The 131-acre Rogue Valley Mitigation and Conservation Bank, located in Jackson County, Oregon, was established in 2012 to protect and manage high functioning Agate Desert vernal pool complex to serve as compensatory mitigation for habitat losses. The Bank is approved through an agreement with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Oregon Department of State Lands, and in coordination with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Rogue Valley Council of Governments.

The Bank preserves special wetland resources and federally listed species habitat in the Agate Desert, as it occurs within designated critical habitat for vernal pool fairy shrimp. The Bank property supports a large, intact expanse of vernal pools and swales with known occurrences of the federally threatened vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi) and the federally endangered large-flowered woolly meadowfoam (Limnanthes floccosa ssp. grandiflora). The Bank offers mitigation credits for permitted impacts to vernal pools, wetlands, vernal pool fairy shrimp, and large-flowered woolly meadowfoam.

A conservation easement has been recorded over the Bank to permanently protect the habitat and conservation values of the Bank in perpetuity. The Bank now undergoes annual maintenance and monitoring to ensure its long-term success.

Special-Status Species Occurring On-site

• Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi)
• Large-flowered Woolly Meadowfoam (Limnanthes floccosa ssp. grandiflora)
• Austin’s Popcorn Flower (Plagiobothrys austinae)
• Greene’s Popcorn Flower (P. greenei)
• White-flowered Navarretia (Navarretia leucocephala ssp. leucocephala)