In November 2006, CALFED awarded Yolo County RCD a $2,258,978 grant to fund the Yolo-Solano Conservation Partnership for Habitat on Working Lands.  This project will expand and refine innovative programs already on the ground in Yolo and Solano counties, including farm ponds, stream habitat improvement & irrigation canal vegetation. Project sites are located in the Jepson Prairie-Prospect Island Corridor in Solano County, along several Yolo County waterways, and on privately-owned Yolo Bypass parcels.  The project aims to lower barriers that hinder implementation of on-farm conservation practices and will develop a model for other regions facing similar challenges.

Over the three-year grant period, the project will:

• Provide programs to reduce conservation barriers for farmers, including landowner assurances, permit streamlining and conservation fund leveraging;
• Demonstrate new ecological findings regarding the benefits of farm ponds for native aquatic and terrestrial species, including the Sacramento perch;
• Add to the documentation of on-farm habitat improvement benefits for wildlife;
• Develop a social and economic analysis of farm "ecosystem services";
• Create a project model transferable to other regions;
• Share & exchange information about the project's goals and progress through public workshops, presentations, youth education & small publications.

• Jeanette Wrysinski, 530-662-2037 x118 (Yolo County)

• Katherine Holmes, 707-678-1655 x101 (Solano County)

• Vance Russell, 530-795-2921 (CA Audubon)

• To print out a project flyer: click here.
• To read a recent article by the Woodland Daily Democrat, click here.
• To read a recent article by the Davis Enterprise, click on this link.
  

High School students participating in the Center for Land-based Learning's SLEWS program assist project staff with the planting of native trees, grasses & shrubs at a habitat restoration site along Cottonwood Slough.