How To

Vernal Pond Encore
by Thomas Biebighauser, USDA Forest Service

Editor: A review of Mr. Biebighauser’s A Guide to Creating Vernal Ponds is found in The Bookshop department on page 36.

Vernal ponds are ephemeral wetlands that fill with water in the spring and dry out in the fall and are often isolated from other bodies of water. Perhaps one of their most significant characteristics, however, is that they are void of fish, thereby providing safe havens for many amphibian, insect, and crustacean species.

It has been learned through interviews and by examining the evidence (drainage ditches and tiles) that vernal ponds were once common in Kentucky. Most have disappeared. Recognizing the ecological value of this habitat type, a partnership formed to reestablish the ponds on public lands. During the past 4 years, the partners have constructed more than 300 vernal ponds, ranging in size from 0.1 to 3 acres, on the mountain ridges and in the river valleys of the Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky.

A variety of techniques was used to build the ponds. Small bulldozers shaped the new wetlands where clay or silt-loam textured soil was present. Synthetic fish-grade liners were used where soils were course-grained and porous. Track-hoes and explosives were used on sites having an elevated water table.

The ponds were located in both sunlit and shaded areas. Wetlands established in full sunlight have been found to grow more than 50 species of aquatic plants within 5 years. Care was taken during construction to make sure that the sunlit ponds could dry out each year—an important factor for keeping cattails from crowding out more desirable plants.

These new wetlands provide habitat for an abundance of wildlife. Hundreds of nights of mist-netting have found 10 bat species, including the federally endangered Indiana and Virginia big-eared bats. Interestingly, in the summer months, the preponderance of bats captured were pregnant or lactating females.

Partners built the ponds to resemble the few remaining in the area. They were constructed to retain water long enough for amphibian larvae to develop, yet not so long that larvae-feeding fish could become established. Wood and gray tree frogs, American and Fowler’s toads, and spotted Jefferson’s and four-toed salamanders are just some of the amphibians using the ponds as breeding habitat.

Wood ducks likewise have made extensive use of ponds constructed in the shade beneath canopies of oaks, partaking of fallen acorns and macroinvertebrates—the food needed to sustain energy for migration. Leaves falling into shaded ponds have provided a rich environment for invertebrates important to amphibians’ diets.

The vernal ponds also are the focus of an enterprising USDA Forest Service environmental education program. Every year, Forest Service staff lead more than 400 students on field trips into wetlands. Students don waders and are handed nets, field scopes, clipboards, and data sheets to actively sample the wetlands’ wildlife. Before returning home, they have learned how to identify a vernal pond, whether in its wet or dry state. Students also take with them a better understanding of the wetlands’ value to wildlife and people.

Bringing back Kentucky’s vernal ponds is improving life for creatures of the forest—it is also helping to positively shape our youth’s perspective on the environment.

For more information, contact Tom Biebighauser, Wildlife Biologist, USDA Forest Service, 2375 Kentucky Highway 801 South, Morehead, Kentucky 40351, (606) 784-6428, tombiebighauser@fs.fed.us.

Vernal Pond Construction Partners

American Electric Power Company
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Inc.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Kentucky PRIDE
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
National Wild Turkey Federation
National Wildlife Federation
Rowan County Wildlife Club
Steele Reese Foundation
USDA Forest Service
Wal-Mart Foundation
Waterflow Systems, Inc.