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Point Blue Conservation Science (PBCS) is collaborating with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), cooperating ranchers, and several partners in an effort to improve soil, vegetation (forage) and wildlife habitat on foothill rangeland watersheds in California's Great Valley. By applying prescribed (planned) rangeland grazing and management practices, ranchers with support from NRCS Farm Bill programs, PBCS including the newly established PBCS's Rangeland Monitoring Network (RMN) and conservation partners seek to increase soil water retention in foothill watersheds and Sierra Nevada meadows, improve water supply reliability downstream, improve abundance and diversity of plant functional groups, enhance ranch productivity, improve habitat for fish and wildlife and provide proactive adaptation to climate change. In addition, we are partnering with and mentoring ranchers as Leopoldian land stewards to ensure long-term ecological and production benefits on their land. There is little empirical data available related to grazing management and long-term soil and vegetation response on California's Annual Rangelands. We are measuring an array of soils attributes, including infiltration, organic matter, and bulk density for both benchmark and planned grazing implementation. We are also taking vegetation measurements to document plant functional group demographics and invasive and noxious plant data and bird point counts and area searches to characterize ranch level avian changes that occur due to changes in management.