The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act Regulations (310 CMR 10.00, 1996) include measures for the regulation of vernal pool habitat, as long as it is located within another category of wetland regulated by the Act, and as long as it has been certified by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MDFW) prior to the filing of a Notice of Intent by an applicant. Regulation 10.04 defines vernal pool habitat as "confined basin depressions which, at least in most years, hold water for a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer, and which are free of adult fish populations, as well as the area within 100 feet of the mean annual boundaries of such depressions," to the extent that such habitat is within an area regulated by the Act.

When regulations were being revised to include protection of vernal pools, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) did not want to give the appearance that it was expanding its jurisdiction. Therefore, the DEP stipulated that, to be regulated, vernal pool habitat had to be located within existing wetland resource areas. Specifically, vernal pool habitat had to be within a Bordering Land Subject to Flooding, which is "an area which floods from a rise in a bordering waterway or water body," or within an Isolated Land Subject to Flooding, which is "an isolated depression or closed basin which serves as a ponding area for run-off or high ground water which has risen above the ground surface." That area which is within 100 feet of the vernal pool is also protected, to the extent that it is also within the Lands Subject to Flooding. In 1995 the DEP issued a statement clarifying the regulation of vernal pools. They explained that vernal pools that occur in any wetland resource area, not just Lands Subject to Flooding, are regulated (M. Burne, Mass. Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program; pers.comm.,1998).  The DEP went on to explain that measures to protect vernal pools can be written into an Order of Conditions for the subject property.

To be regulated in Massachusetts, vernal pool habitat must also be certified and mapped by the Natural Hertitage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) prior to the filing of a Notice of Intent for the property where the vernal pool habitat is located.
Individuals, school groups, and conservation organizations study vernal pool habitats and provide documentation to the NHESP that the subject pool meets specific physical and biological requirements. If the NHESP concurs with the documentation, then they certify the vernal pool habitat and inform the local Conservation Commission and the DEP of their decision.  The Conservation Commission and/or the DEP determine during the permitting whether each certified pool is actually subject to the Wetland Protection Regulations.

The Massachusetts NHESP has developed criteria, any of which may be used to certify a vernal pool:
                      1. Existence of a confined basin depression and evidence of breeding in standing water by any one of the following                           obligate amphibian species:
                                          wood frog (Rana sylvatica),
                                          spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum),
                                          blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale),
                                          Jefferson salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum),
                                          Silvery salamander (Ambystoma "platineum")
                                          Tremblay's salamander (Ambystoma "tremblayi")
                                          marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum);
                
                       2. Existence of a confined basin depression and the presence of fairy shrimp (order Anostraca) or their eggs; or

                       3. Existence of a confined basin depression which contains standing water that dries up during the year (or which for                            other reasons is free of adult fish populations) and the presence of two or more of the following in standing water
                           (these species are not found in water that persists for less than two continuous months in the spring and/or
                           summer):
                                        (a)  The following breeding- spring peepers (Hyla crucifer), gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor), green                                                frogs (Rana clamitans), American toads (Bufo americanus), Fowler's Toads (Bufo fowleri), or                                                four-toed  salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum);
                                         (b)  adult red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens);
                                         (c)  spotted turtles (Clemmy's guttata), painted turtles (Chrysemys picta), snapping turtles
                                               (Chelydra serpentina);
                                         (d) water scorpians;
                                         (e) the following larvae - predaceous diving beetle, whirligig beetle, Dobsonfly, caddisfly, dragonfly,
                                              damselfly; and/or
                                          (f) leeches; or

4. Existence of a confined basin depression which lacks standing water or which contains standing water that dries
                            up during the year (or is otherwise free of adult fish populations) and the presence of one or more of the                             following:
                                           cases of caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera);
                                           adults, juveniles or shells of either freshwater clams (Pisidiidae); or
                                           amphibious air-breathing snails (Basommatophora).

By 1998, approximately 1300 pools have been certified by the NHESP since the program was developed 8 years ago (M. Burne; pers. comm., 1997). In practice, the NHESP weighs the biological criteria heavily and does certify vernal pools based solely on evidence of indicator species breeding, or the presence of fairy shrimp, whether the area is an isolated depression or not.

Vernal pools are protected by 3 other mechanisms in Massachusetts. For the purpose of state Water Quality Certificates, issued under the Federal Clean Water Act's Section 401 requirements, certified pools are considered to be Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW), and state policy does not permit fill or discharges within ORW's. Title 5 regulations (310 CMR 15, 1996) governing septic system placement stipulate that components of a septic system be a certain distance from a certified vernal pool. Tthe septic tannk must be 50 feet from vernal pool habitat and the soil absorption field must be 100 feet away (M. Burne; pers. comm.,1997). The Massachusetts Forestry Cutting Protection Act also includes special conditions for forestry activities at and near certified vernal pool habitat.

Some municipalities in Massachusetts have adopted their own more stringent vernal pool protection ordinances. The Town of Reading has defined performance standards for proposed projects within 100 feet of any vernal pool (Reading General By-Laws, Section 5.7, 1993). The Town ordinance states that a project shall not result in:
                             a. the dicharge of runoff into a vernal pool;
                             b. any impairment of the capacity of the vernal pool, as well as the area with 100 feet of the mean annual
                                 boundary of the pool, to porvide wildlife habitat;
                             c. any adverse effect upon species listed by the NHESP or MDFW under 321 CMR 8.00; and
                             d. alteration of the topography, soil structure, plant community composition and structure, and hydrologic                                  regime; insofar as such alteration will, following two growing seasons of project completion and thereafter
                                 substantially reduce the vernal pool habitat's capacity to provide the following important wildlife habitat                                  functions: (1) food, shelter, migratory and breeding areas, and overwintering areas for amphibians; and
                                 (2) food for other wildlife.

(Murphy and Golet 1998)