Modoc National Forest is a

U.S. 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 t ...

in Northeastern

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 ...

Geography

The Modoc National Forest protects parts of Modoc (82.9% of acreage),

Lassen Lassen is a Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Lars" (equivalent of Laurentius), and thus a parallel form of the more common surname Larsen. Notable people with the surname include: * Ander ...

(9.4%), and Siskiyou (7.7%) counties. Most of the forest was covered by immense lava flows occurring over the last 500,000 years. The eastern part of the forest east of Alturas contains the

Warner Mountains The Warner Mountains are an -long mountain range running north–south through northeastern California and extending into southern Oregon in the United States. The range lies within the northwestern corner of the Basin and Range Province, exte ...

. The Warner Mountains drop steeply on the eastern slopes, whereas the western flank has a more gentle topography.

Ecology

Due to the elevation and precipitation differences, the forests hosts a large number of plant species. The western side of the brushy foothills consist mostly of bitterbrush and curl-leaf mahogany. As elevation increases, forests of

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 ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

and red firs, incense cedar, and

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (C ...

give way to lodgepole and

western white pine Western white pine (''Pinus monticola''), also called silver pine and California mountain pine, is a species of pine in the family Pinaceae. It occurs in mountain ranges of northwestern North America. It is the state tree of Idaho. Description ...

s sprinkle towards the summit. Some of the forest have been identified 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 ...

, with lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, white fir, incense cedar, and red fir being common constituents.

History

Modoc National Forest was established as the Modoc Forest Reserve on November 29, 1904, 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 ...

. It was named for the

Modoc people The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recogn ...

who traditionally had their territory in this area. In 1905 federal forests were transferred to the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, and on March 4, 1907, they became National Forests. On July 1, 1908

Warner Mountains National Forest Warner Mountains National Forest was established as the Warner Mountains Forest Reserve by the General Land Office in California on November 29, 1904 with . After the transfer of federal forests to the U.S. Forest Service in 1905, it became a Nati ...

was added to Modoc. The

South Warner Wilderness The South Warner Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area east of Alturas, California, United States. It encompasses more than of the Warner Mountains. It is within the Modoc National Forest and managed by the US Forest Service. Ele ...

lies within the forest.

Management

Forest headquarters are located in Alturas, California. There are local

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

district offices located in Adin, Alturas, Cedarville, and

Tulelake Tulelake ( ) is a city in northeastern Siskiyou County, California, United States. The town is named after nearby Tule Lake. Its population is 902 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,010 from the 2010 census. Tulelake peace officers are authori ...

References

External links