The Bucks Lake Wilderness is a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

located in the

Plumas National Forest Plumas National Forest is a 1,146,000-acre (464,000 ha) National forest (United States), United States national forest located in northern California at the northern terminus of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The Forest was named after i ...

section of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, in northeastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Geography

The wilderness lies in Plumas County south of Lake Almanor. It protects the northernmost end of the

Sierra Crest The Sierra Crest is a roughly generally north-to-south ridge, ridgeline that demarcates the broad west and narrow east slopes of the Sierra Nevada and that extends as far east as the Sierra's escarpment, topographic front (e.g., Diamond Mountain ...

, which beyond the canyon of the North Fork

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather ...

, is no longer distinct. The California Wilderness Act of 1984 set aside the wilderness. The reservoir for which it is named is considered a "boater's Mecca" and is just outside the wilderness boundary.

Natural history

The topography is classic

with gentle slopes on the western side, glacial cirques, and areas of bare granitic rock. The highest point is Mount Pleasant (7,054 ft). Of the 13 cirques in the area, the one-mile (1.6 km)-wide Silver Lake is the largest, located below Spanish Peak of the Sierra crest, just outside the wilderness boundary. The North Fork Feather River canyon forms the north boundary and the wilderness includes its -long canyon wall. The wilderness provides habitat for the black bear,

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

, mule deer and black-tailed deer as well as eagle,

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

, owls and the willow flycatcher. Vegetation includes conifers such as sugar, lodgepole and

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

with almost pure stands of red fir on the highest elevations. Streams and wet meadows have alder and aspen trees, corn lilies and montane chaparral. There are three adjacent units of roadless areas, the largest of which has Bucks Mountain, Bald Eagle Mountain and Bucks Creek.

Bucks Lake

See

Bucks Lake Bucks Lake is a reservoir in Plumas County, California, created in 1928 by the construction of Bucks Storage Dam on Bucks Creek, a tributary of the Feather River. The dam is managed by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. See also * List of la ...

for full article. The dam was begun by the Feather River Power Company, which was owned by R.C. Storrie and Robert Muir. The company bought , including the Bucks Ranch and began construction in early 1926. Three years and eight million dollars later, the company had financial problems and ended up selling the project to Great Western Power Company who completed the project in 1928. The -capacity reservoir is created by the high rock-fill dam on Bucks Creek, covers and is operated by the

Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

Notes

References

*Adkinson, Ron. ''Wild Northern California''. The Globe Pequot Press, 2001
Bucks Lake Wilderness
Plumas National Forest, US Forest Service

External links

Wilderness.net Bucks Lake Wilderness - main website

National Forest Service: Plumas National Forest wilderness areas website

Bucks Lake Hiking Association website
{{Authority control Plumas National Forest Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Protected areas of Plumas County, California Wilderness areas of California Feather Headwaters Feather River IUCN Category Ib 1984 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1984