Vernal Pools

The RCD has been conducting ongoing education and outreach to farmers and ranchers in an ongoing attempt to identify and encourage viable solutions to ongoing conflicts between the needs of agriculture and requirements to protect vernal pools. Towards that end, the RCD:

• Produced an on-line informational brochure, entitled: Vernal Pools: Their History and Status in California's Central Valley
  http://ceres.ca.gov/wetlands/
  what's new/vernal_sjq.html
  
  
• Conducted a county-wide assessment to gauge landowner interest in participating in the establishment of an affordable vernal pool mitigation bank and to evaluate and rank vernal pool quality on potential bank lands. The results of the 1998 study are summarized in a report, entitled, "Assessment of Potential Sites for the Low-Cost Vernal Pool Mitigation Bank for San Joaquin and Southern Sacramento Counties." The California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided funding assistance for the effort.