Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) , parent of Bank of the Sierra, announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.17 per share, subsequent to the Board's review of the Company's preliminary second quarter financial results. The per share dividend is the same as last quarter, but represents a 6% increase relative to the quarterly dividend paid a year ago. The dividend will be paid on August 14, 2008 to shareholders of record as of July 31, 2008.

Sierra Bancorp is the holding company for Bank of the Sierra (http://www.bankofthesierra.com/), which is in its 31st year of operations and is the largest independent bank headquartered in the South San Joaquin Valley. The Company has $1.3 billion in total assets and currently maintains 22 branch offices, an agricultural credit center, an SBA center, and an online "virtual" branch. In January 2008, Sierra Bancorp was recognized as the 2nd best performing mid-tier bank in the nation and the 6th bank overall by U.S. Banker magazine, based on return on equity.