Bear Creek Working Forest - Pacific Forest Trust

Bear Creek

Working Forest Conservation Easement

Located in the high country of Mt. Shasta at the heart of the world’s most biodiverse conifer forests, the Bear Creek Working Forest project secures water, jobs, and wildlife habitat benefiting everyone in California.

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The source of much of California’s water supply originates as glacial melt and volcanic springs flowing from Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen. Near Mount Shasta, at the headwaters of Bear Creek, you’ll find Bear Creek Working Forest, an 8,230-acre forested watershed that cleans, cools, and sustains life on the property and downstream into the Fall River. Conservation of this working forest protects more than 50 miles of waterways that provide fresh water into the Pit River and Lake Shasta, for people, fish and wildlife, and farms across California. This project complements a similar conservation easement acquired earlier from Bascom Pacific and completes the protection of the entire upper Bear Creek watershed.

Roseburg Resources Company, a family-owned timber company that owns and stewards the property, operates one of the two remaining sawmills in Siskiyou County, California. It is also the second largest private employer in a region with persistent economic challenges. Despite economic pressures to increase timber harvests or sell their working forest outright, Roseburg ultimately decided that what is good for business is also good the environment.

“We believe the future of our company and our industry is in managing our forests for all the public benefits they provide, including sustainable wood supplies, renewable energy, clean drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife, and increased carbon storage.”

– Allyn Ford, President of Roseburg

By establishing this working forest conservation easement in partnership with us, Roseburg has kept the property intact, prevented future conversion and subdivision of the land for residential and other uses, and protected its ecological values forever. Funded by a generous grant of $7.8 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board using bond proceeds from Proposition 84, the sale of the working forest conservation easement also generated new revenue to sustain timber operations and more than 230 local jobs, in an area where stubbornly high unemployment exceeds the national average.

Conservation of the Bear Creek Working Forest ensures the company’s excellent forest stewardship is maintained at levels above and beyond what even the state’s strict forest regulations require. According to John Donnelly, Executive Director for the Wildlife Conservation Board, “This project successfully balances ecological and economic concerns with a holistic, landscape-level approach to conservation in a key watershed region.”

Why Conserve This Property?

It Saves Wildlife Habitat

The Bear Creek Working Forest conserves habitats for a variety of imperiled fish and wildlife, benefiting approximately 185 species in total. Nearly 950 acres of rare and sensitive habitats are managed solely for conservation and restoration purposes, including the spawning grounds of the world-famous Fall River.

Why Conserve this Property?

It Benefits Natural Water Systems

The Bear Creek Working Forest strengthens the protection of more than 50 miles of important waterways including Bear, Pole, and Clark Creeks, their tributaries, and a suite of important seeps and springs critical to the region’s hydrological health.

Why Conserve This Property?

It Mitigates Climate Change

Consistent with the state’s landmark climate change law, the Bear Creek property is managed to conserve and increase forest carbon stores. The tract’s conservation will contribute to the creation of a large-scale, inter-connected system of protected areas, benefitting wildlife on the move.

Why Conserve this Property?

It Provides Educational and Scenic Enjoyment

The conservation easement and management plan expanded public recreational access to the property, creating scenic buffers along nearly two miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, and beautiful views for visitors along state Highway 89, the National Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

Why Conserve This Property?

It Supports the Local Economy

The Bear Creek Conservation Easement helped provide the company with new revenue to sustain their operations and keep their resource base secure. This benefited the regional economy and helped protect more than 230 local jobs, throughout the recent economic recession.

Connecting a Larger Forest Landscape

Bear Creek Map

The Bear Creek Working Forest Project helped realize landscape-level conservation goals by enhancing ecosystem functionality across public-private ownerships. Coupled with the conservation easement on the adjacent Bascom Woods forest, this project protected the entire upper Bear Creek watershed and as a result, created a 13,000-acre block of conserved, privately owned forestland, connected to the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Who Lives There?

Many species call Bear Creek Working Forest and the surrounding landscape home. Learn more about the species in this area.

This Project Conserves Diverse Habitats

Over 20% of the Bear Creek property will be under special habitat management for its rare and sensitive habitat conditions that benefit 185 species. In addition, the terms of the conservation easement will ensure higher quality habitat across the working forest stands than required by California law, with more diversity and special habitat features, like snags (standing dead trees) and hardwoods.

Conservation Project Partners

Thanks to our partners for collaborating to ensure the natural values of this land are conserved for future generations!
State of California Wildlife Conservation Board

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