The Vieira-Sandy Mush Conservation Bank is located in northern Merced County east of the intersection of Highway 59 and Sandy Mush Road. The bank comprises 333 acres including grassland and vernal pools and swales. The goal of the bank is to preserve, in perpetuity, endangered and threatened San Joaquin Valley species and their habitats. Cattle grazing is used as a tool to manage and enhance the habitats. Vernal pool tadpole shrimp, vernal pool fairy shrimp, California tiger salamander, and western spadefoot toads are all known to occur within the bank. The Center accepted a conservation easement on the property in 2002 and took over the biological monitoring of the bank in 2004.

For further information please contact:

Chris Clifford
Consulting Biologist
e-mail: cclifford@cnlm.org