The Town of Windham, along with several other towns in Cumberland County, is participating in a vernal pool mapping program. Funded through a grant obtained by Maine Audubon, the University of Maine is assisting towns locate and identify vernal pools in the towns of Cumberland, Freeport, Topsham, Yarmouth and Windham.

A public information meeting will be held at the Monday, March 30, at 6 p.m. at Windham Town Hall. Landowners, potential volunteers, and interested residents are encouraged to attend. Dr. Aram Calhoun from the University of Maine will be presenting on this project. Contact Assistant Town Planner Ben Smith at 892-1902 for more information.

Vernal pools are shallow depressions that usually contain water for only part of the year. They do not contain populations of fish because they sometimes completely dry out. This characteristic makes them an important part of the life cycle for amphibians like frogs and salamanders which use the pools to lay eggs.

“Significant vernal pools” are a subset of vernal pools which provide particularly valuable wildlife habitat, and are regulated by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Significant vernal pools are defined by the number and types of frog and salamander egg masses, the presence of fairy shrimp, or use by threatened or endangered species.

Windham is participating in this program so landowners can definitively know if there are any vernal pools on their property that will be regulated as “significant vernal pools” and to understand the resulting implications on development potential of the land. Allowing volunteers to conduct field verification through this program will allow landowners interested in developing their land to avoid potentially months of project delays since the work must take place during a short window of a few weeks each spring. In addition, there will be no cost to landowners for this service. Landowners will be able to avoid hiring private consultants on their own to do this field work.

The mapping program that Windham is participating in consists of two parts. The first is identifying potential vernal pool locations from aerial images of the town. This part of the process is complete. The second part of the program is a voluntary field verification of these potential vernal pools based on landowner permission. Town staff sent letters to landowners where potential vernal pools have been identified. If landowners wish to participate in the program, University of Maine trained volunteers will visit the site twice this spring to determine if there is a vernal pool as indicated in the aerial images and if so, to make a determination on whether or not the vernal pool is a “significant vernal pool.” These visits will take place in late April and early May. As previously state, this project is voluntary and volunteers will only conduct field visits with landowner permission.