Sierra Valley is a large mountain valley located east of the crest of

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 ...

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 ...

mountain range in Plumas and Sierra Counties, north of

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

Geography

intermontane Intermontane is a physiographic adjective formed from the prefix " inter-" (''signifying among, between, amid, during, within, mutual, reciprocal'') and the adjective "montane" (inhabiting, or growing in mountainous regions, especially cool, mo ...

valley at approximately elevation, Sierra Valley is surrounded by mountains ranging in elevation from 6,000 to . The huge valley covering about is a down-faulted basin, formerly a lake of similar geologic origin to

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

to the south, now filled with sediment up to two thousand feet thick. The former Lake has the suggested name of Lake Beckwourth and existed until approximately 10,000 years ago. Average annual rainfall is less than twenty inches, most falling as snow.

Ecology

The valley floor has a grassland and sagebrush ecosystem and is the site of extensive freshwater marshes known as the Sierra Valley Channels. The extensive marshes are filled with

cattails ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ...

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland graminoid, grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **''Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **''Scirpoides'' **''Isolepis'' **''Schoenoplectus'' **''Trichophorum'' ...

es and alkaline flats that drain into the

Wild and Scenic Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

Middle Fork Feather River The Middle Fork Feather River is a major river in Plumas and Butte Counties in the U.S. state of California. Nearly long, it drains about of the rugged northern Sierra Nevada range. Geography Its headwaters are located near Beckwourth in the ...

. Many species of wildlife make their permanent home in the valley, and a great number of migratory bird species stop over in the fall and nest in the valley in the spring. The valley also has thermal activity, with Marble Hot Springs located in the north central valley floor. The Sierra Valley Preserve near Beckwourth, California protects 2,575 acres of land, including 1,100 acres of wetlands and hosts over 100 migrating and resident bird species. California state-listed species include greater sandhill cranes (''Antigone canadensis tabida''),

black tern The black tern (''Chlidonias niger'') is a small tern generally found in or near inland water that breeds in Europe, Palearctic, Western Asia and North America. In winter the birds migrate to coastal areas of Africa and South America. Taxonomy T ...

s (''Chlidonias niger''), and

yellow-headed blackbird The yellow-headed blackbird (''Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus'') is a medium-sized blackbird with a yellow head. It is the only member of the genus ''Xanthocephalus''. Their scientific name derives from the Greek word for yellow, ''xanthous'', a ...

s (''Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus''). On December 7, 2024 the Preserve opened the Sierra Valley Preserve Nature Center for public enjoyment. It was funded by The Feather River Land Trust,

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

and Northern Sierra Partnership, The Preserve also hosts

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American ante ...

(''Antilocapra americana'') and

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

(''Cervus canadensis''), the latter recolonizing the Sierra Valley beginning around 2010.

Economy

Sierra Valley is an agricultural and livestock region. Tourism also contributes to the local economy.

Access

Entrance from the west is through

Yuba Pass Yuba Pass is a mountain pass on State Route 49 in Sierra County in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of about 3.4 air miles west of Sattley, on the divide between the North Yuba River and the Middle Fork Feather Riv ...

on State Route 49. Entrance from the east is through

Beckwourth Pass Beckwourth Pass is the lowest mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at an elevation of . Geography Beckwourth Pass is located at the north eastern edge of Sierra Valley at Chilcoot-Vinton, California near the border between Pl ...

, on State Route 70. State Route 89 skirts the southern end of the valley. State Route 49, the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

trail, terminates at State Route 70 in Vinton, and the latter highway then terminates at Hallelujah Junction on U.S. Route 395 after passing through Chilcoot.

Principal towns

* Sierraville * Beckwourth *

Calpine Calpine is the largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal energy in the United States, with operations in competitive power markets. A ''Fortune'' 500 company based in Houston, Texas, Operations Through wholesale power op ...

* Sattley *

Loyalton Loyalton is the only incorporated city in Sierra County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 740, reflecting a decline of 29 from the 769 counted in 2010. The ZIP code for the community is 96118. The town is near ...

* Vinton * Chilcoot

Sources

A Biological Baseline Study of Sierra Valley Marsh, California 1976. Dept. of Biology,

SFSU San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. NSF SOS grant SMI-76-08071. This was a student originated study funded by the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

to assess biological resources of the high-altitude freshwater marsh in Sierra Valley.
A Biological Baseline Study of The Sierra Valley Marsh California - 1976

References

External links

*
Plumas National forestTahoe National forest
{{Coord, 39, 46, 15, N, 120, 19, 40, W, display=title Valleys of California Wetlands of California Landforms of Plumas County, California Landforms of Sierra County, California Valleys of Plumas County, California Valleys of Sierra County, California