A stronghold for threatened and endangered native fish
The Little Butte Watershed provides cold, high quality water that benefits farms and ranches by supplying irrigation as well as providing for some of the best quality spawning and rearing habitat left in the Rogue River. SOLC holds six conservation easements totaling 2,208 acres in the Little Butte Creek Watershed. The North Fork of Little Butte Creek begins at Fish Lake and the South Fork flows off Brown Mountain, both emptying into the eastern portion of the Rogue River Basin. The Little Butte Creek basin boasts native fish runs including coho salmon, summer and winter steelhead, and Chinook salmon, and produces more of these fish than any other tributary in the Upper Rogue. We want to keep it that way by protecting and promoting clean, cold water inputs to the Little Butte Creek system.
On the South Fork of Little Butte Creek, we hold two easements on key properties which do just that. The easements were crafted to provide strong protections for riparian forest cover to shade and provide long-term woody inputs to the creek. The conservation easements also provide protections to upland forest, requiring sound forest management that includes protection for seasonal creeks and soils to reduce sediment inputs. In partnership with conservation-minded landowners, these easements allow for continued use of farmland and forests, while ensuring riparian and streamside protections to benefit our native fish and water quality.
The Little Butte Creek Watershed is a priority salmon and restoration watershed in the Rogue Basin. It is a Tier 1 Key Watershed, meaning that it contributes directly to conservation of at-risk anadromous and resident fish, and it is a water quality limited stream, impaired by high temperature, sedimentation, and E. coli. Portions of the watershed are diverted into the Talent Irrigation Ditch canal system. We are grateful for a large coalition of partners in the region including Freshwater Trust, the Rogue River Watershed Council, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, who are involved with restoration in the Little Butte Creek system. Read about recent restoration work coordinated by the Rogue River Watershed Council on Little Butte Creek here: rogueriverwc.org/what-we-do/water-quality-improvement/
Thank you conservation landowners!
To learn more about all of our six focus areas and organizational goals, check out our 2022-2024 Strategic Plan.
Please note these properties are privately conserved and not open to the public.
Conservation values of the Little Butte Creek Focus Area.
Open meadow meets riparian forest along Little Butte Creek.
Little Butte Creek supports the federally listed endangered coho salmon. Photo courtesy of California Sea Grant.
Owners of SOLC conserved lands walk the property with staff every year and report any changes or plans to make changes in easement areas.
