Black Butte Junction sits at a unique location just northwest of the Black Butte Cinder Cone and a few miles west of Mount Shasta. To the west is Mount Eddy and beyond that the Trinity wilderness. The Black Butte Springs are located just above (east) of our land and Black Butte Creek flows across our property. It is hard to imagine a railroad yard in a more beautiful location.

We've been engaged in a number of initiatives related to the natural ecology of the area. This includes several projects right on our land as well as efforts to learn more and engage in the broader issues impacting water, rivers, and forests within the adjacent Shasta-Trinity National Forest, our Shasta/Klamath River watershed, and the Black Butte/Mount Shasta area.

First, we've been documenting the plant and animal species present on and near our land by the Black Butte Yard. This area is ecologically very diverse. See our (revised in summer, 2008) Black Butte "Bird List", "Tree and Shrub List", "Small (Non-woody) Plant List", and "Black Butte Critter List" for more information.

Second, we are cleaning up the former five-acre "wrecking yard" area. Once the home of hundreds of junked cars, what we call the "compound" is now newly green - hundreds of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers are beginning to emerge and grow. We are planting some native tree and shrub species and watering new trees in order to help this process along. On both the compound and in the surrounding forest and chaparral areas, we are identifying and removing invasive non-native plant species.

Third, we have been working to protect and restore Black Butte Creek. Black Butte Creek, part of the Shasta River watershed via Boles Creek, starts at Black Butte Springs, a short distance east of the Union Pacific Railroad corridor and the BBCRC. The spring, actually a cluster of springs on a hillside, flows cold and clear year round. According to a handmade sign at the springs:

"Black Butte, a volcanic cinder (cone), stands with a solid core. Talus slopes of dacite rock become snow capped upon the Cascade winters; whereas in Spring, water trickles down into sub-streams under its slopes into one of two basins. Black Butte's north aspect run-off fills a basin due west of this spring where bedrock of lava layers has created a water table, which through fissures this water flows."

In a generally dry area, the springs and creek are an important and rare resource, supporting plant and wildlife habitat. Water from the creek supplies the historic Black Butte water tank, several acres of wetlands and ponds in the area and irrigation for pastureland. Further downstream, north of Yreka, the Shasta River flows into the Klamath River. On the Klamath, a large campaign for hydropower dam removal and salmon restoration is underway (see www.klamathriver.org for more info).

In early April, 2007 Black Butte Creek was severely impacted by a neighbor trying to improve downstream irrigation water flow. See a revised version of Andrea's May, 2007 paper, "Damage to Wildlife Habitat Due to Alteration to Black Butte Creek in Spring, 2007", for more details. Following input from the California Department of Fish and Game, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Board, and other entities, a restoration plan for the creek was prepared and most restoration work carried out in the autumn of 2007. Many riparian plants have come back and much new growth has already been observed along the creek banks. Small trout can be seen in the creek. Our pond, drained by the incident, has been refilled and restocked with Rainbow Trout. The adjacent wetlands are teeming with a wide variety of plants, birds, and other critters.

Forth we are working on natural forest restoration. While our land includes some areas of relatively diverse forest, substantial portions were once clear cut and then replanted as tree plantations of a single species - Ponderosa Pine. However, after being planted in crowded narrow rows, these areas were ignored and never properly managed or thinned out. This created an unhealthy forest - too many trees all of one species all too close together. This is also a fire hazard, a major concern in this dry area. We are working on the ambitious task of "limbing up" the trees (in order to prevent "ladder fires" and reduce the large volume of dead wood in these areas). We are then thinning out some of the Ponderosas in order to open things up a little and allow for the growth of under story plants. The plan is now to begin planting a healthy mix of native trees and other plants in the understory - Douglas and White Firs, Cedars, Dogwoods, and many others. Over time, a healthier forest will be the result. Dozens of people have been volunteering their time to help with these projects.