This report presents a program to determine performance criteria of restored and replacement California vernal pools using natural pools as a standard. The report establishes biodiversity as the measure of vernal pool function and sets boundaries for a proposed study to test this function. It describes a field method that includes both plants and macroinvertebrates and relies on multiple samplings in one season. The report proposes developing comparison standards using bootstrap or jackknife methods and seeks explanation of project success or failure by considering physical and biotic interaction. The study focuses on pools from the Piedmont benches extending along the eastern edge of the Sacramento River Valley north of Sacramento County to Red Bluff.