The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is recommending that 5.7 miles of Butte Creek flowing through public lands in Butte County be added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The recommendation is included in the agency’s draft Northwest California Integrated Plan (NCIP). The public has until December 28, 2023, to comment in support of protecting Butte Creek and many other streams flowing through public lands managed by the BLM in northern and northwestern California.
Make a comment in support of Wild and Scenic River Status
Wild & Scenic River Protection Recommended for Butte Creek
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is recommending that 5.7 miles of Butte Creek flowing through public lands in Butte County be added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The recommendation is included in the agency’s draft Northwest California Integrated Plan (NCIP). The public has until December 28, 2023, to comment in support of protecting Butte Creek and many other streams flowing through public lands managed by the BLM in northern and northwestern California.
Wild and Scenic River protection would prohibit federal permits and funding for any new dam or diversion on the protected segments of Butte Creek. A river corridor averaging 320 acres per mile is established along river segments flowing through federally managed public lands. These public lands are managed to protect the free-flowing qualities and outstandingly remarkable values of the recommended or designated stream. Public segments are also classified and managed as Wild, Scenic, or Recreational based on the level of existing development in the river corridor at the time of designation. In addition, the federal agency is required to develop and implement a comprehensive river management plan for the designated segment. Since the BLM has no authority over private property, the agency’s recommendation does not affect existing private property, land use, or zoning.
The BLM is required to identify and recommend potential Wild and Scenic Rivers in the agency’s land and resource management process, but only Congress can add a river to the National System. Once the BLM’s recommendation is finalized, the suitable stream is managed administratively to protect its values until Congress acts on the recommendation.
The draft NCIP addresses the future management of more than 380,000 acres of BLM-managed public lands scattered throughout northern and northwestern California. The draft NCIP recommends wild and scenic protection for 56 suitable river segments totaling 135.3 miles, including 4.9 miles of Butte Creek and .8 miles of the West Branch Butte Creek (a tributary).
Butte Creek is eligible for wild and scenic protection because it is free flowing and possesses outstandingly remarkable scenery, recreation, fish, geology, and history values. The creek is perhaps best known for supporting the largest wild population of threatened spring chinook salmon in the Sacramento River watershed. The creek also supports threatened steelhead trout. The creek’s scenic quality is outstanding, providing a background for diverse and high-quality recreation opportunities, including fishing, swimming, sunning, hiking, tubing, picnicking, and whitewater boating. Butte Creek flows through a rugged boulder-strewn canyon with numerous seasonal waterfalls created by its side drainages. The canyon through which the creek flows displays geology that is exemplary of the northern Sierra Nevada. Butte Creek canyon also contains several sites listed or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The BLM has tentatively classified all suitable Butte Creek segments as a Scenic River.
Please email the BLM today in support of the agency’s Wild and Scenic River suitability recommendation for Butte Creek. Feel free to use the short template below for your email and add any relevant personal experience you may have recreating on Butte Creek. Public comments are due by Dec. 28, 2023, but early support comments will help focus the agency’s attention on Butte Creek. You can go old school and mail a letter to the BLM at the address below or you can submit an electronic comment to the BLM by visiting: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012803/570/8004019/comment.
(Date)
NCIP Project Manager
Bureau of Land Management
1695 Heindon Road
Arcata, CA 95521-4571
Dear BLM:
I strongly support the BLM’s recommendation to protect Butte Creek in Butte County as a National Wild and Scenic River. This recommendation will help protect the creek’s free flowing qualities and outstandingly remarkable scenery, recreation, fish, geology, and history values. Wild and scenic protection for Butte Creek is crucial to protecting the largest wild run of threatened spring chinook salmon in the Sacramento River watershed. Butte Creek is also an important destination for residents of Chico and Paradise who visit the creek to enjoy its diverse recreational opportunities.
I support the BLM’s preferred Alternative D, which recommends wild and scenic protection for 56 river and stream segments totaling 135.3 miles scattered throughout northern and northwestern California. However, I believe that Alternative D should be improved as recommended by CalWild, Friends of Butte Creek, and other conservation groups.
Please inform me of the BLM’s final decision to protect Butte Creek as a Wild and Scenic River.
Thank you,
(Your name, address, email)
If you would like to review the entire NCIP, DEIS, and Appendices, visit:
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012803/570.
For more information, contact Steve Evans, CalWild Rivers Director, email: sevans@calwild.org; phone: (916) 708-3155.