Upcoming Activities
Self-guided Tour
Tour the docent triangle any day of the week during daylight hours. Beneath the dry summer grasses are the future delights of spring wildflowers, native bees that pollinate them, and scores of invertebrates whose short but important life cycles correspond with the filling and evaporating of the vernal pools.
Print the Jepson Prairie Self-guided Nature Trail Guide (print in landscape mode)
About Jepson Prairie Preserve
A domed blue sky and parading clouds serve as a dramatic backdrop to one of California’s best remaining examples of vernal pools and native bunchgrass prairies. The preserve is bordered on the north and the south by tidal sloughs, which connect it with the vast San Francisco Bay Delta.
Jepson Prairie provides habitat for many rare and endangered species such as the Delta green ground beetle, vernal pool fairy and tadpole shrimp, Conservancy fairy shrimp, California tiger salamander, and Bogg’s Lake hedge-hyssop. Over 400 species and 64 families of plants, including 15 rare and endangered plants are found on site.
Learn more about Jepson Prairie Preserve
Hours
Dawn to Dusk
Amenities
Portable toilets. No drinking water.
Directions from the Sacramento area
West on I-80 and then south on Highway 113. Twelve miles south of Dixon, where 113 turns east at an overhead warning light, go straight onto the gravel road, Cook Lane, cross the railroad tracks, and continue to the parking area near the eucalyptus trees.
Directions from the Bay Area
East on I-80, east on Highway 12 and then north on Highway 113. Take the first left at a warning light, and turn left onto Cook Lane at the second warning light. Continue down Cook Lane across the railroad tracks to the parking area near the eucalyptus trees.