Once upon a time, someone wanted to make a salamander t-shirt…

The Vernal Pool Association began in 1990 as an environmental outreach project at Reading Memorial High School in Reading, Massachusetts. (more about the VPA... ) One of the founding students, Mark Erelli, offered to draw a T-shirt design to be produced and sold to finance the students' early efforts to present teacher workshops. That design, our spotted salamander shirt, and several others were drawn by Mark. (For music fans, this Mark Erelli is the one who is now a popular folk singer-song writer.) Over the years, other designs were contributed by April Hobart and Matt Burne, both involved with the VPA in their student years. The shirts were a big hit, and for a while, they were available from the VPA through mail order, for those not lucky enough to attend an educators’ workshop or conference. When the VPA left the high school in 2004, mail orders ceased.

Meanwhile, vernal pool educators and friends familiar with the VPA’s nice shirts had been asking each other if these t-shirts were going to be sold again.

One educator, noticing holes in her shirts, began thinking about how to make ‘vernal pool shirts’ available. She and her two teenage boys had been involved in vernal pool conservation for a few years. Ideas started circulating about building a website to sell shirts and raise awareness. Huge obstacles like start-up costs, finding student artists to create new t-shirt designs, and learning the technical skills needed to build a website still lay ahead.

When the fine folks at the Vernal Pool Association were contacted for advice and permission to copy their t-shirt idea, the truth came out: The vernal pool t-shirts were still being printed and sold, but only at conferences. The VPA no longer had the resources to manage sales on a larger scale.

[Enter ‘Team T-shirt’…]  
    And, so, two great ideas were introduced to each other.  The Vernal Tee Stop was created by
Team T-shirt to serve as the online store of The Vernal Pool, the VPA’s website at vernalpool.org.

We, (as Team T-shirt), are a few members of the Vernal Pool Association, students and adults, who volunteer their time to maintain this portion of the VPA’s website and handle the sales that it brings in. We hope that by making the shirts more widely available, more people will have a chance to learn about some of the diverse group of creatures that inhabit vernal pools.  And, through t-shirt sales, more people will have the opportunity to contribute to the education about and the protection of vernal pools.

As much as it is an honor for us to maintain this online store, there is no substitute for going outside and visiting the pools. Each spring since 2004, we have put on our boots and gone out into the woods to find and certify vernal pools in our area. Massachusetts’ Wetland Protection Act provides certified pools with a level of protection from development and contamination. (more about certification...) Each experience provides us with more knowledge about vernal pools and a deeper appreciation for the abundant life that thrives in them.

We hope our efforts here will encourage you to learn more about vernal pools. Try to find a pool to visit in your area to experience this unique habitat and its inhabitants.

Find out much more information about vernal pools at vernalpool.org.