Red-Legged Frog Habitat Enhancement for Lynch Canyon Open Space-Solano Land Trust Project
Lynch Canyon is a 1039-acre property located in Solano County, just northwest of Interstate 80 between American Canyon Road and Highway 12. Solano Land Trust has owned the site since 1996 and it provides a perpetual agricultural and open space buffer along Interstate 80 between the cities of Fairfield, Vallejo, and Benicia. The mission of the Land Trust is to preserve and protect farmlands, wetlands, and open space throughout Solano County.
Red-legged frogs 
were observed within the Lynch Canyon watershed in 1998 during a survey for the Lynch Canyon Resource Management Plan (LCRMP). In 2000, riparian exclusion zones were created by fencing Lynch Creek; alternative water sources for cattle were also part of the LCRMP.
Red-legged frogs occur in Lynch Canyon Reservoir. It is also likely that the north and south forks of Lynch Creek serve as a dispersal corridor for the frogs. Constructed riparian exclosures are designed to protect the water quality of the creek by excluding cattle and allowing regrowth of native vegetation. However large portions of the creek, the entire reservoir, and a wet meadow below the reservoir remain unprotected.
The Conservation Program funded installation of approximately 11,000 linear feet of fence to protect the reservoir, the wet meadow, all of the North fork from Interstate 80 to the reservoir, and all of the South fork of Lynch Creek, except for a 200 foot cattle access area. Alternative water sources for cattle were also installed. This project was completed in November of 2002.
