Vernal Pool (No Deer Allowed) Traditional Cache
SirCrab: The cache appears to be missing and the CO is no longer active so the listing is being archived.
SirCrab
Volunteer Cache Reviewer
Vernal Pool (No Deer Allowed)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located near a very small vernal pool in a slice of woods in Sligo Creek Park sandwiched between two neighborhoods. There is also a deer exclosure at the cache site.
A vernal pool is a contained basin depression lacking a permanent above ground outlet. In the Northeast, it fills with water with the rising water table of fall and winter or with the meltwater and runoff of winter and spring snow and rain. Many vernal pools in the Northeast are covered with ice in the winter months. They contain water for a few months in the spring and early summer. By late summer, a vernal pool is generally (but not always) dry.
A vernal pool, because of its periodic drying, does not support breeding populations of fish. Many organisms have evolved to use a temporary wetland which will dry out but where they are not eaten by fish. These organisms are the "obligate" vernal pool species, so called because they must use a vernal pool for various parts of their life cycle. If the obligate species are using a body of water, then that water is a vernal pool.
Obligate vernal pool species include Fairy Shrimp, Wood Frogs and Salamanders. I thought it would be interesting to document the life cycle of this pool through photos and descriptions by Geocachers, so please feel free to post both in your cache logs.
Also check out the nearby deer exclosure to see first-hand how grazing deer effect the woodland flora. (most dramatic during the summer growing season)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Parking hint:] Raq bs Lngrf Fg.
Treasures
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