Butterfly Valley Botanical Area, in the northern Sierra Nevada, was designated a protected botanical area in 1976 due to its abundance and diversity of plant life. It is located just north of Quincy, 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 ...

of northeastern California, United States. The diverse and unique

plant community A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

habitats in the nature reserve, at elevations of , are protected and managed by the Mt. Hough Ranger District of the

Plumas National Forest Plumas National Forest is a 1,146,000-acre (4,638 km2) United States National Forest located at the northern terminus of the Sierra Nevada, in northern California. The Forest was named after its primary watershed, the Rio de las Plumas, or F ...

Plants

The Butterfly Valley Botanical Area is a home of the rare

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryot ...

, '' Darlingtonia californica''. It grows only in limited and scattered bog habitats — from where the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range meet near here, up through northern California to southern Oregon.USFS-Plumas website; Mt. Hough Ranger District; "Butterfly Valley Botanical Area"
accessed 03-20-2011. The unique plant community also includes other carnivorous plants; a dozen ''

Piperia ''Piperia'' is a former genus within the orchid family Orchidaceae that has since been subsumed under '' Platanthera''. These plants are known as rein orchids. They are native to western North America, especially California and the Pacific North ...

'' species of native orchids; two dozen species of native lilies and tiger lilies including ''

Lilium washingtonianum ''Lilium washingtonianum'' is a North American plant species in the lily family.Kellogg, Albert. 1859. Hesperian (San Francisco) 3: 340 It is also known as the Washington lily, Shasta lily, or Mt. Hood lily. It is named after Martha Washington a ...

'' and ''

Lilium parvum ''Lilium parvum'' is a species of lily known by the common names Sierra tiger lily and alpine lily. It is native to the mountains of the western United States, primarily the Sierra Nevada of California but also with additional populations in nor ...

''; many species of native California ferns; and other California native plants.

History

;Mining The Butterfly Valley Botanical Area consists of Butterfly Valley and the surrounding area. In the early 1850s, mining operations and the old mining town of Butterfly Valley occupied the area. When the mines panned out, the town of Butterfly Valley was abandoned. ;Grazing Grazing and logging operations took over, after mining ended. The Galeppi brothers increased grazing in the area by bringing in their cattle into the area in the early 1900s. Grazing continued until the Butterfly Valley Botanical Area was designated a protected botanical area in 1976. At about the same time as grazing began, the Murphy Lumber Company began railroad logging, which was expanded by Quincy Lumber Company, the purchaser of the Murphy Lumber Company. Logging operations stopped in 1950.

References

External links

Plumas National Forest: Butterfly Valley Botanical Area
- ''Visiting activities and information'' {{coord missing, Plumas County, California Nature reserves in California Plumas National Forest Natural history of Plumas County, California Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Protected areas of Plumas County, California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Plant communities of California

Plants

History

See also

References

External links