The Heat is On!

Summer holdover juveniles are everywhere, rearing and waiting for fall rains to head out! These fish are in the Helltown area. Lots of big adults, over 5000, have been spotted moving up and holding in the deeper pools! See below.

Juveniles photo Sage Ono

Sage Ono Video

Butte Creek Updates:

Save the Dates! September 24-26th, 20th Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival On Tour
We have hired a Communication Director!
Next Generation Watershed Stewards
Running Wild - Return to the River - Imax Movie
Wildlife and Wildfire in Butte Creek - BCFSC

20th Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival On Tour

This year marks the Twentieth anniversary of hosting the Wild and Scenic Film Festival On Tour!

We have a lot planned for this year’s festivities – including two-nights of films, field trips, pre-show receptions and silent auction, raffle prize drawings, and guest speakers. Join us for one night, come out for both nights to see all the films, and "Get to Know the Watershed" on one or two of our field trips.

Night One: 'Flock of Films' Co-sponsored by AltaCal Bird Alliance
Thursday, 09/24, 6-9 p.m. at the Pageant Theatre in Chico.
Featuring inspiring films all about bird conservation and research.
Night Two: ‘Where Activism Gets Inspired’
Saturday, 09/26, 6-9 p.m. at the Paradise Performing Arts Center.
Featuring films about innovative wildlife and habitat conservation and compelling stories of hopefulness and re-wilding. Including films on Golden trout, Yosemite toads, black bears, and more.
Wild and Scenic Guided Field Trips
Friday, 09/25 and Saturday, 09/26.
Hosted by local experts, these are opportunities for hands-on learning and fun activities in the Butte Creek Watershed.
Trips include:
Forks of the Butte - Forest Health and Forest Therapy
Butte Creek House and Willow Creek
CDFW Floodplain Restoration Project
Spawning Tours

Tickets for all events go on sale 08/06. Stay tuned for our on-sale announcement to buy tickets.

If you’d like to volunteer and/or sponsor this year’s festival, Contact us.

Amazing Return of Wild Spring Run Chinook Salmon

Butte Creek had a disastrous spawn in 2023, in part, because of the low number of adult returnees (less than 200). These fish had poor outmigration conditions in drought year 2021 and the PG&E flume failure in August 2023 decimated the survivors. Expectations for three year old returnees this year were very low. To just about everyone's surprise, thousands of large, (probably four-year old fish), have returned to Butte Creek this year. There are some three-year olds but probably less than 10% of the 5000+ that have been counted so far. It looks like the closed ocean and sport fishing season allowed a bunch of holdover spring run salmon to succeed in the ocean and come home this year from broodstock 2022. Just another example of the productivity and resilience of Butte Creek Spring Run Chinook! Thanks to Sage Ono for the incredible photos!

We have had no less than 5 professional photographers in the creek with the fish this year. We practice low impact filming using fixed camera positions. Stay tuned as the Salmoncam is coming back!

We've Hired but we need more!

Danielle Feulner has joined Friends of Butte Creek as our Communications Director. She comes to us from the another non-profit and is excited to join our team. She will be leading the planning and implementation of the Film Festival and more! Welcome Danielle!

Are you looking for a career in Watershed Protection and Restoration? This could be the dream job of your future. We are looking for a multi-talented individual with a four year degree or more to coordinate, manage projects, and build Friends of Butte Creek for the next generations. We'd prefer a full-time commitment but will consider a flexible position. Please send a letter of interest, a CV or resume, and current employment situation. You can send by email to friends@buttecreek.org or hard copy to: Friends of Butte Creek, 2024 West Sacramento Avenue, Chico CA 95973.

Next Generation Watershed Stewards

Butte Environmental Council was awarded a grant called Next Generation Water Stewards that FBC will be collaborating on. Students (2nd to 6th graders) from Chapmantown and Thermalito will be raising Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Trout in their classrooms and releasing them into the Feather River.

Friends of Butte Creek will follow the releases with a "Wild and Scenic Film Program" specially curated for 2nd - 6th graders at Chapman Elementary and Thermalito this fall.

Running Wild - Return to the River

The Wild Salmon Center (WSC) and Friends of Butte Creek have partnered on creating a Strategic Action Plan for Butte Creek. They work on the Salmon Stronghold Project across the entire North Pacific. Butte Creek is one of the strongholds for salmon in the Pacific Rim. It is the southernmost and the smallest stronghold. As part of the Strongholds campaign, WSC has produced a brilliant IMAX movie called “Running Wild – Return to the River”. Friends of Butte Creek was invited to the movie premier in San Francisco June 23^rd at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts followed by a reception at the Yerba Buena Center Forum. Butte Creek was mentioned several times by the President of WSC, Guido Rahr, and Allen Harthorn introduced at the reception. FBC made the top of the list on the commemorative t-shirt.

The 45 minute movie was exceptional and on the big, 3-D, IMAX screen, many times you felt like you were flying with the Bald Eagle, swimming with the Sockeye salmon, or being chased by a huge Grizzly Bear. We are pleased to partner with the WSC and will be sure to bring the movie to Chico as soon as it is available.

Wildlife and Wildfire - Butte County Fire Safe Council (BCFSC)

BCFSC produced a beautiful brochure in cooperation with FBC and others highlighting the effects of wildfire on the wildlife of Butte Creek Canyon. This was followed by a workshop day in the Canyon at the home of Joe King and Kathy Garlick highlighting managing defensible space around your home. This followed by presentations at the Honey Run Covered Bridge by Marc Hallet, wildlife photographer, and Allen Harthorn, discussing the salmon response to the Camp Fire. The attendees were excited to see Marc's bird photo collection and hear about how the spring run Chinook salmon fared after Camp Fire.

Our fundraising in 2025 was the best ever! Thank you for your continuing support. You are helping to protect and restore one of the last, best wild salmon watersheds in California. Most of you are aware of the incredible resiliency of the Butte Creek system, but we must not take it for granted that it will always be so good. Infrastructure failures on the PG&E hydroelectric system will continue to be a threat. Wildfire is clearly one of the greatest threats as we have seen most of Butte County's watersheds torched in recent years. That's part of the reason we partner with the Butte County Fire Safe Council and the Butte County Resource Conservation District on projects to protect and conserve the watershed. Although climate change is very unpredictable from year to year, the general warming trend could render the lower areas of the canyon unsuitable for summer holding spring run salmon. We don't ignore any of these threats.

We continue to seek ways to address insufficient stream flows for migrating adults and juvenile salmon and hope to add to our water rights portfolio with more dedicated instream flows. Speaking of which, a great way to donate is to the Michael Smith Salmon Water Endowment established to pay our annual California State Watermaster fees for our 5 cfs instream flow water right. Last year a very generous donor paid the whole enchilada for us, allowing our endowment to grow even more. Maybe that is something you'd like to consider in 2026!

Like most non-profit groups, we accept any financial donations, be it cash, stocks, bonds or other financial instruments. Please consider including Friends of Butte Creek in your Charitable, Personal or Family trust. We also will consider any land donations, especially on Butte Creek. There may be financial incentives for critically located properties. There are many tax benefits to all of these donation types and we are happy to work with you to fit your situation.

Our general investment account for the long-term is another good option through the North Valley Community Foundation. These fund are reserved for future Board of Director needs and require Board approval for withdrawal.

Finally, feel free to reach out directly on the website or with a check, money order, gold, silver or diamonds! Our mailing address is:

Friends of Butte Creek, 2024 West Sacramento Avenue, Chico, CA 95973.

Happy Summer from the FBC Board of Directors.

We have lots of the regular style FBC shirts and hats with plenty of long sleeve tees for the fall. Send us an email to friends@buttecreek.org to get yours now!

We will have a wide selection of regular shirts, Ray Troll shirts and maybe a new design available at the reception and Film Festival.