Petit Preserve

Area: 10 acres

Location: Kern County, CA

Date Acquired: August 2019

Acquisition Type: CNLM owns the preserve.  We protect and manage imperiled species and habitats on the preserve in perpetuity.

Key Habitats: Valley saltbush scrub, annual grassland

Species of Special Interest to CNLM: San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), San Joaquin antelope squirrels (Ammospermophilus nelsoni), giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens), blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), badger (Taxidea taxus), horned larks (Eremophila alpestris), loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus), mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus), Kern mallow (Eremelche parryi spp. kernensis)

Introduction

The Petit Preserve is approximately 10 acres in size and is owned by the Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM). CNLM granted a conservation easement over the site to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Coincident with accepting the property in fee, CNLM began managing the Preserve in September of 2019 with guidance from a management plan that staff prepared for this site. Under regulatory authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Preserve was acquired as mitigation for impacts elsewhere to listed species that are protected on this site.

Conservation Significance

The Petit Preserve is in Kern County in the Lokern Natural Area, near Buttonwillow. The land adjacent to the Preserve is natural land, including California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Lokern Ecological Reserve. It is also less than a mile from CNLM’s Lokern Preserve. It provides habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), San Joaquin antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus nelsoni), giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens), and blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). The major vegetative association on the Preserve is valley saltbush scrub. Common grasses and flowering plants include peppergrass (Lepidium spp.), Kern mallow (Eremelche parryi spp. kernensis), red brome (Bromus madritenses spp. Rubens), Arabian grass (Schismus arabicus), and fiddleneck (Amsinkia sp.).

Our Work

The overall goal for the Petit Preserve is to maintain a functioning ecosystem that supports the threatened and endangered species for which this Preserve was established. This will be achieved by largely maintaining current ecological conditions with abundant prey or forage species and vegetation composition and structure that are suitable for these species. Vegetation on the Preserve may be managed partially through grazing.

Public Access

Due to the vulnerability of the species and habitats that exist on this Preserve, it is not open to the public.