Vernal pools were once an abundant feature of the coastal Californian landscape performing essential ecological functions and providing habitats to endemic and endangered species that thrive in unpredictable and extreme environments. Residential and commercial development has resulted in over ninety percent of the natural vernal pools being lost in Southern California. Vernal pool restoration projects seek to reverse this decline by utilizing environmental locations that have characteristics typical of natural vernal pool habitats. In 2005, UC Santa Barbara's Lagoon Island (LI) was identified as a potential site for creating a vernal pool habitat. In this study, a comparison between edaphic characteristics on LI to nearby natural vernal pool sites tested the hypothesis that LI has the necessary edaphic characteristics for vernal pool restoration. A hand auger was used to extract soil samples up to 2.5 meters deep at three potential vernal pool restoration sites on LI and five vernal pool reference locations. Laboratory analyses were performed to identify soil physical and chemical properties including particle size, percent organic matter, calcium carbonate content, base saturation, and extractable iron, aluminum, and silicon. Results of this study indicate that the analysis of particle size distribution with depth is sufficient in determining the suitability of LI for vernal pool restoration. Previous research emphasizes a clay layer as the necessary edaphic characteristic in that it creates an impenetrable layer to retain and allow for ponding of winter rain water. In this study, maximum clay content of natural vernal pool sites were found to range from 32 to 51% at depths of 3 to 83 cm while sites on LI ranged from 28 to 32% at depths of 192 to 224 cm. Results indicate that the hypothesis should be rejected and that vernal pool restoration on LI is not recommended.