Opinions vary on how to use and protect natural resources. That’s why solid science, not opinion, is the basis of good environmental policy. As an associate professor of wetland ecology at the University of Maine, I’m confident that a “homework” assignment to review widely available research would show Husson College president William Beardsley that the concerns he expressed recently in this newspaper about law protecting Maine’s vernal pools are not based on scientific data.

Vernal pools are small water bodies that typically fill up in the fall or spring, and dry by mid-summer. They are preferred breeding habitat for fairy shrimp and amphibians in Maine such as wood frogs and salamanders. Some provide habitat for a number of Maine’s threatened and endangered species (spotted and Blanding’s turtles, for example) as well as other wetland-dependent species including moose, mink, raccoon, herons, ducks, and turtles.

Because of their small size, vernal pools are highly vulnerable to loss from filling and development. Wetland protection laws often leave them unprotected. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s most recent data, small, wooded wetlands are the most at-risk wetlands in the United States.

The loss of vernal pools threatens the integrity of Maine wildlife far beyond wood frogs and salamanders. Because other animals feed on the amphibians that breed in vernal pools, the pools fuel forest food webs and contribute significantly to local wildlife diversity.

As part of my nine years of research on vernal pool ecology and management, I have worked closely with the industrial forestry community and small woodlot owners, developers, town officials, and local citizens to teach about the biological importance of vernal pools. With university colleagues, state agencies, and Maine Audubon, I have helped produce and distribute educational materials and present workshops and training sessions introducing local landowners and other citizens to vernal pool ecology and conservation.

Teaching – and learning – I have seen firsthand the complexity of balancing environmental integrity with economic need. I’m confident that the science-based policy Maine is in the process of adopting to protect vernal pools and additional significant wildlife habitat will help Maine citizens, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife work together.

The policy does not prohibit development around vernal pools. It does not discount the needs of the small landowner. It does not apply to all vernal pools. In short, it recognizes the value of exemplary pools and requires a permit for activities that may harm significant vernal pool habitat. The state may require the permit applicant – a homebuilder, for example – to modify building plans to either avoid or minimize impact on the vernal pool. In cases where there simply isn’t room for both the home and the vernal pool, the home wins.

Dr. Beardsley worries that there’s an unethical reason why the new policy’s guidelines for private development are different than for forest management. In fact, the reason for the difference is forest ecology. Forestry practices are much less detrimental to the long-term survival of amphibians and animals dependent on vernal pools than is unrestricted development that can permanently destroy pools. Forestry impacts diminish over time as the forest grows back. To date, the forestry community – including the Maine Forest Service, the Bureau of Public Lands, and many commercial timberland owners – have been engaged participants throughout the development and implementation of guidelines that allow timber harvesting while protecting the habitat needs of vernal-pool species.

It appears, too, that Dr. Beardsley may not have done his homework on the status of the wood frog he stresses is “common.” In parts of southern New England and in the mid-Atlantic states (where development pressure is great) vernal pool species, including wood frogs in some areas, are declining. In other parts of the wood frog’s range, where agricultural development has destroyed vernal pool habitat, the wood frog now is locally extinct. Another vernal pool species in Maine, the blue-spotted salamander, is a species of special concern in Vermont and Massachusetts and is threatened in Connecticut.

When common species start declining, humans who share their environment should take notice. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, they warn us when environmental conditions are becoming potentially harmful to humans. I prefer proactive to reactive natural resource management.

Dr. Beardsley and I surely agree that people in Maine value working landscapes where humans and wildlife can exist together in the long term. But his fear that state policy protecting vernal pools is a threat to Maine landowners such as “Grandma” is unfounded. The majority of Maine grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers, mothers, and others I’ve met while researching vernal pools want to pass Maine’s wildlife legacy on to the next generation. Would Grandma want her grandchildren waking up to a silent spring because her generation failed to plan for the future?

Aram Calhoun is an associate professor of wetland ecology at the University of Maine and a wetland ecologist for Maine Audubon.