Upper Butte Creek I FRB

In addition to providing critical habitat for the federally threatened salmon, the Butte Creek watershed also supports California spotted owl and American goshawk populations, human communities, and provides water supply for millions of Californians. The forests of this area have been impacted by multiple high-severity wildfires in recent years and remain at significant risk today, posing a risk to people, ecosystems, and water infrastructure. Reducing these risks and enhancing resilience are the primary goals of the Upper Butte Creek I FRB.

Blue Forest recognizes that the project area is in the unceded traditional and contemporary homelands of the Maidu and Yana Peoples, who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial. Our partners hold relationships with local Tribal governments and organizations and explore meaningful partnership opportunities across projects.

The Upper Butte Creek I FRB results from partnerships between diverse groups, including Blue Forest, Butte County Resource Conservation District (Butte County RCD), Lassen National Forest, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The FRB supports the Upper Butte Creek Forest Health Project on the Lassen National Forest, which will include mechanical thinning, prescribed fire, trail development, and meadow and stream restoration, in addition to reforestation and other post-fire restoration treatments on areas previously burned in the 2021 Dixie Fire. Butte County RCD is coordinating the implementation of 1,000-1,500 acres within the broader 20,000 acre project footprint within the Butte Creek watershed. This effort aligns with their mission to protect, enhance, and support Butte County natural resources and agriculture by working with willing land owners and citizens through education, land management, and on-the-ground projects. The forest health treatments supported by the Upper Butte Creek I FRB will:

• Restore and sustain resilient forests: Through thinning, prescribed burning, meadow and aspen restoration, and reforestation, reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire to unburned and burned forest and improve overall ecosystem resilience.
• Protect communities: By reducing catastrophic fire risk and enhancing fuel breaks and evacuation routes, ensure greater ease of moderating fire behavior and reducing the threat to human lives and property.
• Improve stream and watershed health: Reduce sedimentation into Butte Creek by reducing catastrophic fire risk, ensuring resilient forest and meadow ecosystems, and enhancing stream systems.

The Upper Butte Creek I FRB is the first FRB with an RCD acting as the implementation partner and the fourth FRB launched across the Lassen and Plumas National Forests and adjacent private lands. Its success contributes to the growing momentum of landscape-scale restoration in these critical and fire-impacted watersheds.