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Friends of Butte Creek

@friendsofbuttecreek

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Butte Creek holds the largest run of wild, naturally spawned Spring Run Chinook in CA. We're here to protect and restore and enhance their habitat.

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🐟 Don’t miss next week’s lecture on the Salmon of Butte Creek!

Come learn the significant and fascinating history of wild Chinook salmon in Butte Creek, and how we, as a community, can impact the future of these unique fish. Presented by Allen Harthorn, founder and executive director for the Friends of Butte Creek, Harthorn will present a history of Butte Creek through its geology, ethnology, and hydrology, as well as a history of Spring-Run Chinook salmon, and their populations and lifecycle.

The Friends of Butte Creek work to protect, restore, and enhance the natural habitats of wildlife in the Butte Creek Watershed. You can learn more or get involved at buttecreek.org.

📅 Saturday, October 3
🕙 10–11 AM
📍 Chico History Museum, 141 Salem St, Chico
🎟️ $10 ($9 for museum members)

Buy your tickets today at chicohistorymuseum.org/events (link in bio)

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The 39th Annual Bidwell Park & Chico Creeks Cleanup is almost here!

We’re getting ready for a BIG day of cleaning up our local creeks, parks and riparian habitats, and we couldn’t do it without the incredible businesses and organizations helping make this event possible! 💚

👕 Event T-Shirts: Printed locally by Cali Screen Printing. There will only be 250 available, so be sure to arrive early if you want a shirt.

☕ Coffee & Espresso: Forest Ranch Coffee Roasters will be fueling our volunteers with coffee and espresso. They are a local sustainable coffee roasting company. 20% of proceeds will be donated to BEC!

🚛 Cleanup Hauling: We’re partnering with Murdock's Moving & Storage and CARD to haul large and bulky items from cleanup locations to our trash drop-off sites. Volunteers will be given an information sheet at check-in with information about our dispatch team.

🥪 Volunteer Lunch: After the cleanup, join us at Hooker Oak Park at 12 PM for a volunteer lunch celebration!

🎟️ Raffle: Stick around for a chance to win Turtle Bay Aquarium tickets or free Chipotle entrées! Raffle tickets will be donation-based, with proceeds supporting BEC’s work to protect and restore our local environment.

And, of course, a HUGE THANK YOU to our event sponsors for helping us make this community cleanup possible! Your support provides the resources needed to bring hundreds of volunteers together to care for our local parks and waterways. 🌎💚

Thank you to everyone who is showing up for our community and ecosystems.

Shout out City of Chico, Butte County Public Works, Butte County Fish and Game Commission, WM, Recology, Sweet Flower, Murdock's Moving & Storage, CARD, Payless Building Supply, Forest Ranch Coffee Roasters, The Lost Dutchman, Friends of Butte Creek, Oregrown, Cali Screen Printing, Fishbio, KZFR, Kiwanis Club of Chico, Trout Unlimited Feather River Chapter, Cenergy, Bidwell Run Club, and Mountain Sports!

#BidwellPark #ChicoCreeksCleanup #ChicoCA #VolunteerChico #KeepChicoBeautiful #CommunityCleanup #ButteCounty

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@friendsofbuttecreek came to @downtownchico to invite you to check out @wildandscenicfilmfestival this weekend at @chicofarmersmarket

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The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour is coming to Paradise, CA!

@friendsofbuttecreek is bringing the Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour to Paradise, CA on September 26, 2026 at the Paradise Performing Arts Center. A delightful night of inspiring short films! 120 minutes of compelling stories of hopefulness, adventure, and innovative wildlife and habitat conservation.

Learn more by going to the link in our bio and exploring our On Tour events!

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The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour is coming to Chico, CA!

@friendsofbuttecreek and @altacalbirdalliance is bringing the Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour to Chico, CA on September 24, 2026 at the Pageant Theatre. This night is all about the birds! Featuring avian themed short films about bird conservation and research.

Learn more by going to the link in our bio and exploring our On Tour events!

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🐟 Protecting Butte Creek’s Wild Salmon

Join BEC on August 29 from 2–5 PM at the Centerville Schoolhouse for the Butte Creek Community Salmon Forum.

Butte Creek is home to the last remaining wild population of threatened spring-run Chinook Salmon in the entire Central Valley. ❤️🌊 Come learn why this remarkable population is so important and what we can all do to help preserve and protect it.

Hear from local experts and community members from Friends of Butte Creek, Pacific States Marine Fisheries, and the Butte Creek community.

📍 Centerville Schoolhouse
13548 Centerville Rd, Chico, CA 95928
🗓️ August 29 | 2–5 PM

Please RSVP: bit.ly/becsalmonforum

#buttecreek #chinooksalmon #salmonconservationeducation #centralvalley #protect #CommunityForum

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Kings of Butte Creek //

The follow up to Saturday's reel are the stills from my quick jaunt up to Butte Creek. Abundance is a rare thing in California's rivers and if you set your baseline far enough back, it seems all but gone. Nevertheless, it's hard not to be impressed by the last best run of Spring Chinook in California.

This year, there are probably 5000-6000 fish in the system. Not too shabby considering the fact that 3 years prior was closer to 100 fish. These stats tell a hopeful story, but the reality is much more complicated. In the past decade, Butte Creek's run has fluctuated between 20k fish and 100. Determining a long-term trajectory inside of that is a bit tough.

If there are any lessons to be learned it's that salmon can recover, given the chance. Dams, pollution, and fishing all have serious consequences for spawning salmon populations. Only time and tough choices can determine if there is a future for our fish.

For those wanting to get involved, there is a slew of organizations up and down the state working on river restoration and management. Give it a Google and see if you're up to it.
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#salmon #conservation #buttecreek

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It's #worldfishmigrationday and to celebrate, I present you my first ever reel 🫪.

These fish are Butte Creek Salmon and they are part of the last major spring run of Chinook salmon left in the state. Unlike fall-run Chinook, these fish enter in the spring and hold throughout the summer in deep cold pools.

This pool was probably around 30ft long and 10ft deep, but it held around 200 fish! As drought, dams, and diversions have lessened flows and complicated migration pathways in the state, it's somewhat of a miracle that this run is still going. Hopefully, we can learn from this run to help restore more spring run across the state. Time and determination will tell.
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#salmon #spawntilyoudie #fish #natgeoyourshot

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Please join us for two upcoming public forums on groundwater on Thursday, March 12th from 6-8 and Thursday, March 26th from 6-8pm at the Chico Masonic Center!

These FREE forums will provide the community with clear, factual information about our local groundwater. Attendees will learn about the current status and long-term sustainability of our groundwater resources, and find out what it means for our community.

This is also an opportunity to get involved so your input can help shape and refine local groundwater planning, projects, and policies.

Come learn, ask questions, and be part of the conversation about our water future.

Thank you to our amazing sponsors: @friendsofbuttecreek @butteenvironmentalcouncil @groundwater_for_butte

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Celebrate the Perch, Flutter, Soar exhibition during the upcoming opening reception at monca on Friday, January 23, 2026 from 5-8PM 🪶

All opening receptions are free and open to the public. Drinks will be available for purchase at the bar. Get your friends together for a fun evening out at the museum 🦅

The Museum of Northern California Art is proud to present Perch, Flutter, Soar, our annual bird-themed exhibition which will take place during the 2026 Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway. The exhibition will be on view from Thursday, January 22, 2026 - Sunday, March 15, 2026.

“The Pacific Flyway ranks as one of the greatest migratory pathways in the entire world, stretching from the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska to the steeps of Patagonia in South America. Millions of birds representing hundreds of species use this great avian highway each year, and nowhere is this abundance of wildlife more accessible than right here in the Northern Sacramento Valley.” - Snow Goose Festival Overview

The Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway celebrates this legendary migration by hosting exciting educational workshops, field trips, and lectures. This year is the 26th annual Snow Goose Festival and it will begin with a banquet hosted at the Bell Memorial Union on Chico State campus on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

If you can’t make it to the exhibition opening reception, make sure to visit during the museum’s open hours, Thursday - Sunday, 11AM-5PM.

Featured Art (will be on view):
Pileated Woodpecker’s Autumn Feast by Lucinda Wood
Snow Geese by Daniela Yew
InCongruence Apples and Pigeons by Chunhong Chang
Lunchtime Abbotsbury Swannery by Gary Symington
Red Tailed Hawk and Bigleaf Maple by Daniela Yew

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Last Saturday, we gathered at the Paradise Performing Arts Center for the 19th Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival, a celebration of our shared love for wild places, wildlife, and resilient communities 🌿✨

It was a wonderful evening filled with connection, inspiration, and awe for the landscapes that move us so deeply. Thank you to Allen and Pamela of Friends of Butte Creek for hosting this incredible event year after year, and to the Wild and Scenic Film Festival for amplifying these important voices 🌎🎥 #WildatHeart

@friendsofbuttecreek
@wildandscenicfilmfestival
@ppac1124

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@friendsofbuttecreek is out at @chicofarmersmarket today!

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