Wildlands Opens New Conservation Bank in Merced

Wildlands, Inc. announces the approval of a new conservation bank in Merced County. The 1067-acre Great Valley Conservation Bank will address mitigation of habitat impacts to threatened and endangered vernal pool species, the federally threatened California Tiger Salamander and is expected to add coverage of the federally endangered San Joaquin Kit Fox. The bank serves key portions of an 11-county area including Merced, Madera, San Joaquin, Fresno, Tulare, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Stanislaus, Alameda and Amador.

“The Great Valley Conservation Bank will help strike a balance between the need to protect vital diminishing environmental resources and the continued growth of the Central Valley. This is the first of many mitigation and conservation banks we intend to develop throughout the region,” indicated Skip Moss, Regional Manager for Wildlands Central Valley Office located in Clovis.

Bank credits are purchased by the public and private development communities to fulfill permit obligations of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service.

Specific credits available include vernal pool preservation and California Tiger Salamander upland preservation habitat types. The bank will maintain native open space in perpetuity in a portion of Merced County where habitat is being lost to development and conversion to agriculture.

For more information about the Great Valley Conservation Bank, please contact Julie Maddox at (916) 435-3555.

In business since 1991, Wildlands, Inc. is a private mitigation and conservation banking firm headquartered in Rocklin, CA, with offices in the Pacific Northwest and Clovis, CA. With mitigation and conservation projects throughout California and Washington state, Wildlands, Inc. has preserved and protected over 20,000 acres of habitat; offering mitigation and conservation credits to public and private developers.