Pit River Potential Wilderness
 The Pit River potential wilderness features a great diversity of vegetation, including forests, grasslands, oak savanna, and others.
Managing agency: Bureau of Land Management, Alturas Field Office.
Size: Approximately 14,898 acres.
Location: Nine miles southeast of McArthur in Lassen County.
Highlights:
- Dominated by 10 miles of dramatic river canyon reaching depths of 750 feet.
- Noted for its unusually high density of birds of prey.
- Extremely important to local Native Americans.
Description: The Pit River Potential Wilderness is dominated by ten miles of dramatic river canyon reaching depths of 750 feet in some places. Around the canyon the region is composed of volcanic plateaus cut by small side-canyons. These plateaus are covered with grasslands, forests of ponderosa and Jeffrey pine, juniper, Oregon white oak, and mountain mahogany.
Along the Pit River and its tributaries, hardwood forests of willow, ash, and other species grow. The Pit River canyon is noted for its unusually high density of birds of prey, including prairie falcon, golden eagle, bald eagle, kestrel, the endangered Swainson's hawk, red-tailed hawk, and other species. Rare peregrine falcons that have been fighting their way back from near-extinction for decades may have already reclaimed the river's steep canyon walls for nesting.
The potential wilderness also serves as an important birthing area for local pronghorn antelope herds, and as critical winter habitat for mule deer driven out of higher country by snow. Evidence of Native American uses of the land abound. The Bureau of Land Management was so impressed with the area that it too proposed a large portion of it for wilderness designation in 1990, one of only a handful of areas endorsed by the agency for wilderness protection statewide.
For additional information, please contact:
Ryan Henson
California Wilderness Coalition
P.O. Box 993323
Redding, CA 96099
Phone: (530) 246-3087
|
Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
