Locals call the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve “UC Merced’s backyard,” and it’s a backyard unlike any other. Picture a 6,500-acre stretch of land that has thousands of vernal pools in the winter, blankets of vibrant flowers in the spring, the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the distance, and countless animals to watch, including the famously-elusive “fairy shrimp.” Established in 2001 and located just north of Merced, the reserve protects the sensitive vernal pool habitats and grasslands. … Vernal pools are small pond-like dips in the ground that fill up during the rainy season. … Jasmine Salazar, a graduate student assistant and tour guide for the reserve, told community members on the recent tour that vernal pools are very rare to California now, but they’ve been around for centuries. “In the Central Valley, we used to have a ton of vernal pools. But because of infrastructure and urbanization, we’ve lost 99% of them,” Salazar, 20, said.