The Butte Creek Ecological Preserve and Butte Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve consist of 2 distinct management units, the Preserve, aka the "Honey Run Unit" owned and managed by the Chico State Research Foundation, and the "Virgin Valley" and "Canyon" Units , owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The units are located east of Chico along Butte Creek in northern California. This stretch of Butte Creek is spawning habitat for the largest population of Central Valley spring-run

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...

, an evolutionarily significant unit that is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Fall-run Chinook salmon and

steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacif ...

also spawn in the creek. The

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 ...

Department of Fish and Wildlife considers the Butte Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve valuable in terms of providing wildlife habitat and protection of critical shaded riverine and aquatic resources. The Butte Creek population of Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon is the largest and one of the few remaining self-sustaining populations in the Central Valley, and is listed as threatened under both the state and federal

endangered species act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...

s. The reserves protect habitat for other species such as

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

Swainson's hawk Swainson's hawk (''Buteo swainsoni'') is a large bird species in the Accipitriformes order. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk, as it is very fond o ...

, beaver and the

western pond turtle The western pond turtle (''Actinemys marmorata''), also known commonly as the Pacific pond turtle is a species of small to medium-sized turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the western coast of the United States and Mexico, r ...

. At the headwaters of Butte Creek is a separate nature reserve called the Butte Creek House Ecological Reserve is managed by the

California Department of Fish and Wildlife The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is an American state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages ...

(CDFW).

Reserve units detail

Butte Creek Canyon Unit

This unit is located two miles (3 km) southeast of the City of Chico and is in size. It is managed by CDFW. This unit has a high amount of non-native grasses (over 40 per cent) and several sensitive or rare plants, including California

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to central and eastern North America, growing mostly in riparian zones. Black walnut is susceptible to thousand can ...

(''Juglans hindsii'') and shield-bracted monkey flower (''Mimulus glaucescens'').

Virgin Valley Unit

This unit is in size and is also managed by CDFW. It is one half mile downstream from the Butte Creek canyon mouth on an

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

apron. This unit contains forests of

valley oak ''Quercus lobata'', commonly called the valley oak or roble, is the largest of the California oaks. It is endemic to the state, growing in interior valleys and foothills from Siskiyou to San Diego counties. Deciduous, it requires year-round grou ...

(''Quercus lobata'') growing on streamside terraces and on the alluvial aggregate.

Honey Run Unit

This unit is managed by

Chico State California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 "normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growing ...

University Research Foundation in cooperation with other agencies and is located within the Butte Creek canyon proper. It is in size. The area of Butte Creek had been used in dredge

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

from the 1800s to about 1950, and mining for sand and gravel from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 1980, a cluster development project of 75

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s was approved for the site by the Butte County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. The project was stopped by concerned local citizens with a successful ballot initiative that overturned the Butte County decision. The flood of 1986, which caused more than $13 million damage in Butte County, washed out the two bridge crossings on Butte Creek and helped start the preservation sequence of events. The bridges connected to the haul road that went from the gravel mining sites to Baldwin Construction's plant. Soon after the historic flood, the mining company sold its properties, with some parcels being bought by the California Department of Fish and Game, and one parcel (the Honey Run unit) being bought by John McAmis. McAmis contracted for a subdivision of single family homes, which was voted down by the Planning Commission, but a subsequent development plan was submitted and approved. After construction began on the property, local concerns were again raised which eventually led to McAmis willingly selling the property to Chico State University, Research Foundation.Management Plan
p.5 In 1998, CSU, Chico Research Foundation bought the parcel from McAmis with support from CSU's Office of Watershed Projects, and funds from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Board, CALFED and US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Butte Creek House Ecological Reserve

The Butte Creek House Ecological Reserve is located at the

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of Butte Creek. It is of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

meadow and forest near the base of Snow Mountain. The site was purchased in 1986 to preserve and restore the area as a part of the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...

(FERC) Project 803, the De Sable-Centerville Hydroelectric Project. This reserve is located near

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, a type of plant community that includes greenleaf and pinemat

manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus '' Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to O ...

s (''Arctostaphylos patula, A. nevadensis''),

bitter cherry ''Prunus emarginata'', the bitter cherry or Oregon cherry, is a species of ''Prunus'' native to western North America. Description ''Prunus emarginata'' is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to tall; west of the Cascade Range, it commonly ...

(''Prunus emarginata'') and bush chinquapin ('' Chrysolepis sempervirens'') that grow at elevations from up to . Forested areas include pure stands of

lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

(''Pinus contorta'') and

red fir ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rarel ...

(''Abies magnifica'').Existing Conditions Report, Ch. 6- Ecology
pp 5-6

Restoration

The restoration efforts of the Butte Creek watershed by environmental groups, together with private landowners and state and federal agencies is showing results. "The restoration there I think has clearly had a measurable response," said Rob Titus, a senior Department of Fish and Game environmental scientist.Resurgence in Butte County" by Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle
May 26, 2008. The fish count of Chinook salmon in 1987 was 14. The number counted in 1998 was 20,000. During the period 1994 through 1997, several agricultural structures were removed, fish screens were installed and a new fish ladder was also installed. In addition, a minimum streamflow rate of is maintained from October 1 to June 30.Butte Creek Revegetation and Restoration Assessment Project p.3 "The spring run in Butte Creek is doing exceptionally well. "For the fish, it's a success story...", according to the California Department of Fish and Game's Harry Morse. Other restoration work has been the removal of invasive plant species including

star thistle ''Centaurea'' () is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding reg ...

scotch broom ''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Great Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used fo ...

and Himalayan

blackberry BlackBerry is a discontinued brand of handheld devices and related mobile services, originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM, later known as BlackBerry Limited) until 2016. The first BlackBerry device ...

. Non-native plants can displace the native species, which may decrease

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and cause a loss of habitat that provide nest sites and food sources. The

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

or streamside plant areas along Butte Creek are the most vulnerable to invasive non-native plants.

Notes

References

California Department of Fish and Game-Ecological Reserves

CDFW Butte Creek Canyon Ecological ReserveButte Creek Ecological Preserve

External links

US Fish and Wildlife Service's Anadromous Fish Restoration Program website
{{Protected areas of California, SWA Nature reserves in California California State Reserves California Department of Fish and Wildlife areas Protected areas of Butte County, California California State University, Chico Sacramento River