Plumas National Forest is a 1,146,000- acre (4,638 km²)

United States National Forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by ...

located at the northern terminus of the Sierra Nevada, in northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The Forest was named after its primary watershed, the Rio de las Plumas, or

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather ...

Geography

About 85% of Plumas National Forest lies in

Plumas County Plumas County () is a county in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,790. The county seat is Quincy, and the only incorporated city is Portola. The largest community in the county is ...

, portions extend into eastern

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

, northern Sierra, southern Lassen, and northeastern Yuba counties

Management

The land is managed by the United States Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture with local management stationed at the Plumas National Forest Supervisor's office in

Quincy, California Quincy (formerly, Quinsy) is a census-designated place and the county seat of Plumas County, California. The population was 1,630 during the 2020 Census, down from 1,728 during the 2010 Census, and 1,879 during the 2000 Census. History Quincy ...

. The forest is also subdivided into three Ranger Districts, the Beckwourth Ranger District, the Feather Falls Ranger District and the Mt. Hough Ranger District, with local management in Blairsden, Oroville, and Quincy, respectively.

History

Plumas was established as the Plumas Forest Reserve by the

General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

on March 27, 1905. In 1906 the forest was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, and on March 4, 1907, it became a National Forest. On July 1, 1908, a portion of Diamond Mountain National Forest was added. The Bucks Lake Wilderness was officially designated in 1984 as a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Ecology

A 2002 study by the Forest Service identified of the forest as

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, using an economic type definition. The most common old-growth forest types are mixed conifer forests of: *

Coast Douglas-fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...

(''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii'') * Pacific and Columbia

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

(''Pinus ponderosa'' ssp. critchfieldiana) in the west, transitioning to (P. ponderosa ssp. ponderosa) in the far eastern section * Sierra

White Fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges ...

(''Abies concolor ssp. lowiana)'' * Jeffrey Pine (''Pinus jeffreyi'') *

Red Fir ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rare ...

(''Abies magnifica'') *Sierra

Lodgepole Pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

(''Pinus Contorta ssp. murrayana)'' *

Incense Cedar ''Calocedrus'', the incense cedar (alternatively spelled incense-cedar), is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It is native to eastern Asia and western North America. The generic n ...

(''Calocedrus decurrens)'' * Sugar pine ''(Pinus lambertiana'') Virtually no virgin timberland exists, as the area has been a logging epicenter starting with the gold rush continuing into the modern era.

References

External links