Key Resources for Vernal Pool Atlas
New for 2026: The VP Atlas App
In May we relaunched VP Atlas to be an easy and intuitive app that you can use on your laptop or on your phone. Visit the VPAtlas site, register under your email, download the app to your phone, use it to navigate to nearby potential and probable pools, and begin adding pool data.
Here are quick instructions and more detailed instructions for putting VP Atlas as an app on your phone. (It is not available in app stores.)
Key Resources for Vernal Pool Monitoring
Vermont Vernal Pool Monitoring Project Manual
The key document for all Vernal Pool Monitors. The VPMon Manual details when you should visit an adopted vernal pool; the protocols behind equipment setup and data collection & submission; and how to identify vernal pool indicator species.
Vernal Pool Monitoring Data Sheet
If you prefer recording on paper to input to VP Atlas later, use this field form during each visit to a vernal pool. It includes basic site conditions, weather, and observations of amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. You then submit completed data sheets to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies for review and analysis.
2026 VPMon Intro
The Orianne Society Vernal Pool Workshop
AudioMoth Configuration
HOBOconnect Directions
Vernal Pool Monitoring Data Sheet Instructions—Explains how to fill out each section of the VPMon data sheet, one of which should be filled out for each of the 4 official visits to an adopted vernal pool.
Leaf Litter Survey Protocol—Explains how to preform a leaf litter survey of a vernal pool.
Vermont Vernal Pool Indicator Species ID Sheet
Northern Woodlands Egg Mass Drawings
Field ID Cards for Northeast Vernal Pool Indicator Species
Field ID Cards for Vermont Vernal Pool Indicator Species— Compiled by Dawn Morgan, University of Maine
A Field Guide to the Animals of Vernal Pools
Key to Amphibian eggs and larvae — This key to identification of amphibian eggs and larvae of Minnesota includes most species found in VT.
A Guide to Larval Amphibian Identification in the Field and Laboratory — This manual for the identification of larval amphibians in Indiana includes numerous VT species, include the 4 VP indicators.
Forest Trees of Maine — A field guide for trees of Maine, and the northeast. Available online for free from the State of Maine.
Common Forest Tree Leaves ID Sheet — Covers 11 common species whose leaves may be lining a vernal pool’s basin in Vermont. Use as a starting guide for the leaf litter ID protocol.
The Amphibians and Reptiles of Maine
The Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State
