The Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority has approved an agreement to create natural habitats for crustaceans affected by Bear River levee work.

The $1.3 million agreement allows Wildlands Inc., a Rocklin habitat development company, to create an environment that would house local species permanently and help them survive.

“The site is beautiful. The design is to create pools around existing ones,” said Anja Kelsey, environmental project manager for TRLIA.

“We are doing our due diligence to create a huge multispecies habitat bank. Not a single non-native species will be introduced, that’s the key for survival.”

Construction on the 9.14 acre site, east of Highway 65 and south of Ostrom Road in south Yuba County known as Best Slough, will begin in April with completion expected in a year. Site monitoring could last up to five years.

“We picked this area because of its location as a buffer zone to the landfill and Beale Air Force Base and because there are already a number of natural vernal pools there,” Kelsey said Thursday. “It’s exciting. We are permitted and ready to build it.”

The pools are a part of an environmental requirement when TRLIA built the setback levee along the Bear River two years ago.

As a result of construction, natural pools are often affected or lost, so an area must be set aside to create additional natural habitats, Kelsey said.

These habitats will provide a home to native vegetation and critters such as Elderberry shrubs and a variety of shrimp species among other crustaceans.

“It’s a very delicate process,” said TRLIA Executive Director Paul Brunner. “The idea is to protect species inside (the pools) and maintain and protect them forever.”

Appeal-Democrat reporter Andrea Koskey can be reached at 749-4709 or at akoskey@appealdemocrat.com