Warm rains spring salamanders into action

A spotted salamander rests near the edge of a vernal pool in Edgewater, Maryland. Named for their bright yellow spots, these amphibians thrive in the swamps and bottomland forests of the Chesapeake Bay region.

The first warm spring rains prompt the annual migrations of these salamanders, along with wood frogs and other vernal pool breeders—species that depend on these small, seasonal bodies of water to reproduce. Vernal pools are short-lived forest ponds, fed by snow, rain or groundwater. They only stay wet for about seven months, just long enough for a cascade of frogs and salamanders to use them as a home for their developing young.

Areas that house vernal pools are often vulnerable to development, endangering the breeding grounds of critters like the spotted salamander, which will return to the same pool year after year to reproduce. But conserved lands like the Forests Pools Preserve near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, provide an oasis for these ephemeral ponds—and the species that depend on them.