Lassen Foothills

California

Phone: 415-777-0487
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Some of the best remaining salmon runs in California can be found in the Lassen Foothills.

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Overview

Description

In blue oak woodlands and streamside forests of the Lassen Foothills, vast grasslands blaze with seasonal wildflowers, wildlife make their annual migration through connected wild lands and ranchers continue California’s historic tradition of cattle ranching. This is one of California’s final frontiers—the area in the north-central portion of the state known as the Lassen Foothills.

Development and subdivision threaten this intact land, with pernicious implications for the ranching community and wildlife. At risk here are the state’s largest migratory deer herd, tundra swans, blue herons, burrowing owls and the threatened yellow-legged frog. Rare vernal pools also grace this area, creating habitat for endangered fairy shrimp and other species.

Water from freshwater springs makes the Lassen Foothills pivotal to the survival of several species of native fish. While other areas of the U.S. succumb to the effects of climate change—including rising water temperatures that are lethal to spawning—a reliable supply of cold, clear spring water from the Cascade Mountains supports several runs of threatened and endangered Chinook salmon, as well as sturgeon and steelhead trout in Deer, Mill and Battle Creeks.

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Location

Tehama County, CA

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Highlights

California's largest migratory deer herd, tundra swans, blue herons, burrowing owls, threatened yellow-legged frog, endangered fairy shrimp, blue oak, volcanic buttes, seasonal vernal pools

Explore our work in California

The Power of Change

In Battle Creek, we are proving that California can successfully balance its demand for energy with the needs of wildlife. TNC is engaged in a landmark effort to free up nearly 40 miles of prime salmon and steelhead spawning habitat on the creek, historically one of the only Sacramento River tributaries that supported all four seasonal runs of Chinook salmon and steelhead.

Dammed for more than a century, Battle Creek today is the subject of one of the most significant salmon restoration efforts in California’s history, bringing together diverse groups, including dam owner Pacific Gas & Electric and four public agencies.

TNC has been a partner in the Battle Creek Restoration Project from its inception, working with the Packard Foundation to bring private funding to the project. TNC has also been the lead organization in protecting the Battle Creek stream corridor though the purchase of conservation easements from willing landowners, now totaling nearly 9,000 acres.

Once the project is complete, Battle Creek will both provide suitable habitat for an iconic California species and continue to serve as a source of renewable energy for nearby communities.

A Living Laboratory

TNC, in partnership with individuals and organizations, is not only working to preserve this unique land—we have turned it into a “living laboratory.”

Our research has produced innovative, exportable solutions to challenges such as invasive species, which are problematic from both a ranching and a conservation point of view. A combination of compatible grazing practices and prescribed burns—conducted in collaboration with ranchers and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection—promotes better habitat for wildlife and more healthy forage for cattle.

Vina Plains The Vina Plains is an excellent example of California annual grasslands and vernal pools on the upper terrace of the Sacramento Valley. © TNC

Vina Plains Preserve

Within the Lassen Foothills project, TNC established the Vina Plains Preserve—4,600 acres of vernal pool wetlands and grasslands that sustain many rare, threatened and endangered species. In spring, these grasslands teem with wildflowers, such as shooting stars, larkspur, lupine and brodiaeas. Goldfields, meadowfoams and popcorn flowers lace the preserve’s vernal pools.

Leased to a local rancher, who is the recipient of an environmental stewardship award, Vina Plains has demonstrated the benefits of sustainable grazing strategies. These strategies include rotational grazing and resting pastures during the dry season. These management practices allow wildflowers to thrive, maintain the habitat quality of vernal pools and provide grassland birds with undisturbed habitat in which to rear their young.

Dye Creek A rock overhang on Dye Creek Preserve. © Sue Pollock

Dye Creek Preserve

The 37,540-acre Dye Creek Preserve, located within the Lassen Foothills, keeps alive both a rich variety of species and the hopes of the ranching community. A working ranch managed by The Nature Conservancy for the state, Dye Creek serves as a site for developing land-management techniques that foster conservation-compatible ranching. Continuous landscapes such as this one also offer the wide-open spaces paramount to mammals that require large ranges to survive.

In addition, sustainable hunting operations have been carried out on the property since 1965.

Annual grasslands and vernal pools on the Vina Plains. — **Vina Plains Preserve** Annual grasslands and vernal pools distinguish the Vina Plains. © Scott Hardage/TNC

The Lassen Foothills & Connectivity

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A Connected Landscape

One of the defining features of the Lassen Foothills is its remarkable connectivity. Dye Creek Preserve is contiguous with more than 500,000 acres of largely undeveloped land without a major road dividing the landscape, allowing wildlife to move across an unusually large expanse of intact habitat. A rough GIS measurement has put this roadless landscape at approximately 560,000 acres.

In the lower foothills, The Nature Conservancy has filled in important pieces of this conservation puzzle by purchasing conservation easements on private ranchlands. Together with Dye Creek Preserve and the vast public and private lands extending toward the mountains, these properties maintain connectivity between the Sacramento Valley and the higher elevations of the Lassen region.

The result is something increasingly uncommon in California: a broad landscape where wildlife can still move across the land at a meaningful scale.

Visiting Dye Creek and Vina Plains Preserves

Dye Creek Preserve offers public hiking days in spring and fall, as well as dark sky experiences on summer evenings. Vina Plains Preserve hosts vernal pool tours in the spring.

You can hear about upcoming events by joining our Lassen Events email list or visiting the Lassen Events page.