The Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership (OVPP) was formed in 2005 by the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) and the Nature Conservancy -Ohio Chapter. The goal is to educate people about the importance of vernal pools and show them how to be "citizen scientists" in their community.

Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that fill up with snow melt and spring rains. Hundreds of species (some rare) utilized these pools during their life cycle. Some creatures, such as fairy shrimp are only found in vernal pools. The mole salamanders only breed in vernal pools. So, these places need to be protected from unscrupulous developments and ignorance.

For more information check out: www.ovpp.org and http://www.theoec.org/Water...

-DrC

OVPP/OEC holds yearly training and monitoring workshops around the state on vernal pools. These workshops provide a hands on approach to educating citizens on the importance of vernal pools to the larger watershed and our communities.

In addition to the workshops we are currently promoting our vernal pool curriculum to grade, middle, and high school educators.

We are also working on a educational vernal pool dvd that will be out next year.

Funding for this project is provided by the National Fish And Wildlife Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Columbus Foundation.