Pennsylvania Citizens Asked to Participate in Seasonal Pool Research
New Online Registry Form Launched

(Pittsburgh and Middletown, Pennsylvania.  March 14, 2007.)  Throughout Pennsylvania, many reptile, amphibian and invertebrate species call seasonal pools home for part of the year. The Pennsylvania Seasonal Pools Registry encourages residents to locate and collect information on seasonal pools across the state.  A new online form allows participants to upload their data and register the sites they have observed and documented.  The online form is available on the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's website at: www.paconserve.org/rc/sp/.



Seasonal or vernal pools are temporary wetland habitats that collect water during wet seasons and later dry out.  Seasonal pools can be found in urban, suburban and rural areas.  Over a quarter of all the state-listed threatened and endangered amphibians in the Mid-Atlantic States are dependent on seasonal pools.  Pennsylvania continues to lose many of these natural habitats to increasing development and suburban sprawl.   Pennsylvania wildlife that depend on these pools include the wood frog, eastern spadefoot, fairy shrimp and the spotted, marbled, and Jefferson’s salamanders.

The Pennsylvania Seasonal Pools Registry is a citizen-based program to identify the locations of seasonal pools. Volunteer participants document locations of seasonal pools and the animals that use them. Since its inception in July 2005, volunteers and experts have submitted 1,336 pools to the registry.  However, this represents only a small fraction of Pennsylvania's seasonal pools.

To participate, the process has become easier.  Visit the Pennsylvania Seasonal Pools website and click on “Register a Pool” to view the online form.  Registrations may also be sent via email or the postal service.  Contact information is listed on the website or call 412-288-2777 or 1-866-564-6972 (toll free).

The Pennsylvania Seasonal Pools Registry is a project of the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, a joint program of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided funding through a State Wildlife Grants Program Grant T-24.  The grant is administered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

# # #

About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy:
Since its founding 75 years ago in 1932, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected more than 212,000 acres of natural lands in Pennsylvania, restored watersheds and saved natural habitats for a diversity of life and uses.  Since 1963, WPC preserves Fallingwater®, the masterpiece home designed in 1935 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar J. Kaufmann in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.   As a symbol of living in harmony with nature, Fallingwater offers a wide variety of educational programs to its more than 135,000 annual visitors.  Each year, WPC partners with 5,000 volunteers and dozens of community organizations and businesses to plant and maintain 135 gardens and greening projects in 20 western Pennsylvania counties. 

Home | Conservation | Fallingwater | Gardens | Join WPC | Contact | Press Room
2007 Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. All rights reserved.