For more than 150 years, the Hart family has owned and managed Butte Creek Meadows, a 3,468 acre ranch, located on the northeastern slopes of Mt. Shasta in the heart of the Klamath-Cascade region. The family recognized the land’s unique ecological value early on, carefully balancing their timber and cattle operations to protect water sources and wildlife habitat, while enhancing the land’s natural beauty and resources.

We partnered with the Hart family to establish a working forest conservation easement to permanently conserve all of Butte Creek Meadows, ensuring sustainable management of the land for generations to come. The conservation easement will prevent the future break up or development of the ranch, support the family’s outstanding cattle and timber management practices, and protect the abundant water, diverse forests, and intact, rare wet meadow system on the property. Conservation of Butte Creek Meadows also secures a strategically important wildlife corridor which connects the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the Klamath National Forest, and enhances habitat for imperiled species such as the northern spotted owl and the Pacific fisher.

The Harts were inspired to protect this land by recalling the sacrifices made by their ancestor, Louisa Hart, who journeyed by boat from New York and rode a mule across the Isthmus of Panama carrying her two diaper-clad sons to make Hart Ranch and Butte Creek Meadows her home. She stewarded the land with tenacity until her death at age 87. Today, Butte Creek Meadows is owned by Susan and Blair Hart, their daughter Alexandra, Blair’s sister, Laura Hyde,  Blair’s cousins, Pam Piemme and Mary Silva, as well as Mary’s husband Tocho Silva.