April Newsletter 2022

Trail Improvement Plans for 2022

Continuing with our tradition and mission of maintaining the Taconic Crest Trail and its access trails, the Club has big plans for trail improvements this year we hope will provide a more enjoyable hiking experience for all. First we will continue to remove the blowdown along the trail from this winter’s snow, ice, and windstorms. Our trail workers have already recorded more than 84 hours of trail work this year! Thank you to all who have already been out in some tough spring weather.

Anyone who has hiked the TCT knows that the northern most 0.5 to 1 mile of trail can be very wet and that the existing planking is in disrepair. We will be replacing the planking this summer in partnership with the NYS Department of Conservation (DEC). We talked with Patrick McGarry, Forester 1, a month ago and Dave Pisaneschi, our Trail Work Coordinator, met with Patrick on the trail recently to discuss plans for new bridging and rerouting sections of the trail. DEC will provide the specifications for building the new bridging and THC’s trail crew will provide the labor. We are grateful for DEC’s offer to partner on these trail work efforts.

We also have the go ahead from DEC to create reroutes immediately north and south of the section of trail where new bridging will be installed. Dave and a couple of trail stewards will flag proposed reroutes, DEC will review the proposed layouts and tweak as needed, and then we can cut the reroutes. Hopefully, we will have this done by early summer.

**Snow didn’t stop Bill from clearing blowdown from the trail. Pic by B Coyle**

Watch for Vernal Pools in our woods and along our trails in April!

It’s spring, at least by the calendar if not by the thermometer, and that means amphibians will be hopping, jumping, and slithering toward water to lay eggs. Some head for lakes, some for ponds or stream edges, and some end up in vernal pools.

What are vernal pools, why are they important, and how does one identify them?

The main feature of a vernal pool is that it is a temporary body of fresh water, although the time period where water is present can vary from a few weeks to several years. But they must dry up. They depend on spring rain and melting snow to fill and usually dry up by the end of the summer. Most often they are small and shallow, but they support a rich community of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Vernal pools are found everywhere—in small woodland depressions, swales, meadows, and larger wetland complexes. They are isolated, with no inlet and no outlet. Another key feature is there are NO fish living in them.

Many of the species that thrive in vernal pools do so only because there is no fish predation of their eggs and larvae. Wood frogs, salamanders, toads, and newts all use vernal pools.

The spotted salamander has been called the “poster child” for vernal pools. This species lives underground and emerges when the ground thaws, the temperature rises above 40 degrees, and it rains into the night. When these conditions are met, they migrate to vernal pools to mate and lay their cloudy egg masses. Surprisingly, all of them come out at once in a synchronous migration over land to water.

**Frogs in a mating frenzy, pic by K Ross**

In Massachusetts, vernal pools and the land surrounding it (up to 100 feet) may qualify for certification and protection through the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and other laws. If you live in Massachusetts, you can obtain the “Official Guidelines for the Certification of Vernal Pool Habitat” and go through the certification process.

What makes a vernal pool certifiable? There must be documented proof of “obligate species,” those that rely on (one could say are “obliged” to live there) vernal pools for all or a portion of their life cycle and are unable to complete this cycle without vernal pools. Examples of these are the spotted and Jefferson salamanders, wood frogs, and fairy shrimp.

Other species use vernal pools for all or part of their life cycle, and these “facultative species,” such as peepers and red efts, are able to complete their life cycle in other water bodies. Proof that the habitat is a vernal pool must include evidence that there is no reproducing fish population in the water body.

So, keep those eyes open for another marvelous woodland sight—the spring amphibian migration and egg production in vernal pools. Remember, it’s the little things and little creatures that enrich our lives.

So, while you’re hiking about in the woods this spring, keep your eye out for these critical habitats, and stop a while to enjoy their presence in our lives and the diversity of species they foster. They are everywhere; you just have to be looking…

Spring Gathering!

Save the date! The THC Spring Gathering will be at Grafton Lakes State Park, Deerfield Pavilion, on Saturday, June 11. Come for all or part of the event. We will have group hike in the morning, meet at the Deerfield Pavilion for a BYO picnic lunch. Afterwards you can paddle in one of the lakes, take another hike, or relax and hang out at the pavilion. More details will be posted on the Outings page as we get closer to the date of the event.

OUTINGS: Refer to the THC website outings page for details about the outings and how to register. We are scheduling on a short-term basis rather than seasonally, so check the website periodically.

Wednesday, April 6: Snow Hole, Petersburg Pass B-
Monday, April 18: Trail work—Taconic Crest Trail
Wednesday, April 27: Trail work—Taconic Crest Trail
Thursday May 26: Hand Hollow C

**Snowdrops by the Taconic Crest on March 27, pic by K Ross**

**Clearing blowdown while on a hike on TCT, pic by D Pisaneschi**

**Thacher State Park, pic by M Waldman**

**One of the numerous water falls at Thacher, pic by M Waldman**

NewsletterMartha WaldmanMarch 31, 2022April 2022