Wednesday March 5, 2025
The Modesto Bee —
Refuge managers have low-tech ways to monitor their wildlife. They can follow an endangered mammal’s pawprints, for example, or listen for a certain bird’s call.
High-tech is lending a hand in and near the new Dos Rios Ranch State Park southwest of Modesto. A team has been sampling the soil’s DNA and other traits to see just how diverse this former farmland has become.
River Partners is doing the work with other nonprofit and government entities at 22 sites in the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by a $40 million grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board in 2022. It also will create new riverside preserves as far south as Kern County.
The Modesto Bee watched Wednesday, Feb. 25, as two restoration scientists with River Partners took a sample. Leah Young-Chung kneeled on the ground, pushed aside the leaf litter and scooped dirt into a small test tube. Haley Mirts stood by and explained the purpose.