Critical Habitat

Vernal pools are those wetlands and temporary ponds that typically have ponded water only part of the year. Because the pools are temporary, they provide critical habitat for certain wildlife to breed and complete their life cycle. Many of the animals that breed in vernal pools live in the upland areas around the pool during the non-breeding season. When pools dry, wood frogs migrate to forested upland areas that are as much as 1,000 to more than 2,000 feet from their breeding pools. Mole salamanders will migrate to forested uplands that are 1,000 feet from their breeding pools. Vernal pools are a resource protected from unregulated alteration under the NHDES Wetlands law and rules. The rules provide definitions of vernal pool, primary vernal pool indicators and secondary vernal pool indicators.