Creating the Bank - Steps and Innovations
In creating OCCB, Wildlands contributed to the public input that formulated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s methodology for assigning vernal pool preservation credits. We then coordinated and prepared baseline biological studies, natural resource management plan, bank enabling instrument, conservation easements, and other documents necessary for formal approval of the Conservation Bank.

Description
The 632-acre preserve is located five miles north of Roseville in Placer County, California. Its complex vernal pool ecosystem supports several unique biological elements that are protected and maintained in perpetuity through a permanent conservation easement:
• The vernal pool fairy shrimp, a threatened species under the Federal _Endangered Species Act.
• Special-status plants, including legenere, dwarf downingia, and Ahart's dwarf rush.
• Many native grasses and wild flowers endemic to the region.
• Numerous waterfowl and shore birds feeding on the plants and
_aquatic insects and crustaceans in the vernal pools.