News Release: Advance Conservation Project in San Joaquin Valley Will Boost Flood and Giant Garter Snake Protection
From the California Department of Water Resources (DWR):
“The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has begun an innovative program in the San Joaquin Valley to help local levee-maintaining agencies implement flood control projects while preserving habitat for the endangered giant garter snake.
“The ‘advance conservation’ program identifies and sets aside habitat, in this case snake habitat, before agencies begin work that could result in the taking of threatened or endangered species or their habitat. DWR has invested $4.1 million of Proposition 1E funds and contracted with Westervelt Ecological Services to create a giant garter snake conservation bank that can ultimately be used by levee-maintaining agencies in the south Delta and the Stockton area south along the San Joaquin River to approximately Fresno.”
Read more from DWR’s news release