In My View
March, 2021
SPRING LOVE IN
The Woodstock Rock Festival was held in August of 1969. I was 20 years old. It was billed as “an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”. I believe the term “love-in” was also used, which is defined as “a gathering at which individuals express feelings of love, friendship, or physical attraction towards each other”. Well, I am not sure about the feeling of love or friendship, but there is approaching a season where physical attraction is virtually undeniable.
Assume you have spent all winter in a state of suspended animation, as in hibernation. No, I am not talking about humans, who could very easily feel they have been hibernating through the winter of COVID -19. And I am also not talking about the black bear, whose first thought as it digs out of the den is finding the nearest bird feeder. Nope, I am talking about those whose heads are less than an inch above the ground surface and who’s first thought is “love-in”!
That is probably a bad attempt to explain the sexual ferocity that takes place in vernal pools in anthropomorphic terms. The critters crawl, hop, and stumble to the vernal pools to continue the existence of their species. Frogs and salamanders are genetically programed to have sex and lay eggs. They have no choice. They are driven to procreate and the vernal pool in the location where their ancestors have traveled to for decades. It is not so much a “love-in” as it is a battle of the fittest. The weaker ones are pushed aside and the stronger ones are genetically represented in the egg masses laid. If you view the videos taken of vernal pool orgies, it is an all-out war for the females, some of whom are drowned in the process. Not very Woodstockian.
There is music of a sort. There are loud choruses of multiple frog species. While regulatory efforts seem to focus on the wood frog, the other frogs are even more vocal. And these choruses are what we as wetland scientists listen for as a beginning our vernal pool season of cataloging the presence of frogs and salamanders.
The wetland scientist strangers wade slowly through the pools, dip nets in hand, polarized glasses on face, staring down into the waters, trying not to kick up sediment. They photograph and document, numbers and types of egg masses, and provide a snapshot of the bounty of the vernal pool. The time for this viewing into the pool is short. By the very term “vernal” pool, it means that the pools are ephemeral. Once the egg masses are hatched, well, wait until next year.
This documentation is used to determine the viability and productivity of the vernal pool. It determines the buffers to the pool and the corridors that need to maintained for the critters to return to the pool next year, and the year after, and the year after. Romance to regulation.
Before you know it, the vernal pool season will be upon us. March thaws will turn into April warmth kicking off the mating season. The nights will ring with the frog symphonies. Even with patches on snow on the ground, and ice still covering a portion of the pools, the season will start. The first full moon means show time!
So, gear up. Make sure waders don’t have holes. Find the dip nets you tossed into the corner. Make sure the polarized glasses are in the car. Try not to drop the phone into the water as you log the egg masses clinging to submerged branches or floating free. Tell your clients “time to get on the vernal pool schedule”. If you miss the season, well, the fat lady has sung.
I think I hear Hendrix.
In My View” is an opinion article that will be posted to you once a month. It is my view of wetland and other environmental issues that will or may affect your business or organization. It will sometimes give you updates on new rules or legislation that has recently passed. In other cases, I will discuss legislation that is “in the works” at our state capital. As the name would imply, it is my view of what this rule, legislation or change means to you. I am constantly meeting with clients, friends and local regulatory officials who are asking me what this rule means or what that piece of legislation does. For that reason, I am sending this out to associates of GES who might care to have this information. I will not be political, but I do reserve the right to be opinionated. If you do not wish to receive further articles, let us know by a “reply to”, and we will delete your name. If you know of someone who might want to receive future articles, just send this on to them and copy us. We will add them to the distribution list. If in the coming months there is a topic, law, rule or regulation that you would like me to discuss, let us know. If I feel that I am competent to say something about it, I will discuss it in the future.
That concludes this Months article. Each past article will be stored on our website at HYPERLINK "http://www.gesinc.biz" www.gesinc.biz or Google: Gove Environmental Services, Inc. I hope this will be of value to you.
Jim Gove
jgove@gesinc.biz
603-778-0644 ext. 15
603-493-0014