Michigan Vernal Pools Partnership

Michigan Vernal Pools Partnership

The Michigan Vernal Pools Partnership (MVPP) is a public/private partnership of nonprofits, conservancies, businesses, individuals, educators, and agencies in Michigan that have organized to strategically work towards increased conservation and understanding of vernal pools across the region.

Small Wetlands, Big Impact

Vernal pools are small, ephemeral “ponds” on the forest floor that are known to be hotspots for biodiversity. Protecting these highly sensitive habitats presents a significant challenge to traditional conservation approaches because they are a relatively small, fine-scale natural feature that, at the individual level, are critical breeding habitat for local amphibian populations, but in the aggregate play a very important role in northern temperate forests and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Often overlooked and under-protected, vernal pools provide essential habitat for a variety of fauna that rely on them for all or part of their life cycles. As isolated wetlands, they lack any protection from government regulations.