University of California-Merced

5,030 acres (2,040 ha) of vernal pool habitat, this figure was later expanded to approximately 6,428 acres (2,601 ha), resulting in the formal establishment of the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, now part of the broader University of California Natural Reserve System. The site where UC Merced would ultimately rise had originally been developed as a public golf course during the early 1990s. However, when endangered fairy shrimp were discovered at the originally selected site, the project was relocated. Since the golf course land had already been disturbed and was thus exempt from many of the environmental issues, it proved a much more feasible alternative.
UC Merced had opened a small administrative office at Merced College in 1997, and in 1999 constructed a temporary office on the grounds of the decommissioned Castle Airforce Base. In 2001, UC Merced expanded further by opening a satellite center in downtown Bakersfield, California within its University Square area. This site provided outreach and …