Fall River Mills - Pit River Tribe
The Shasta Land Trust is pleased to announce the conservation of 1,826 acres protected forever in partnership with the Pit River Tribe and the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council. Situated Northeast of Burney and Southwest of Fall River Mills, the property is home to the ancestral lands of the Illmawi and Ajumawi people, two of the eleven autonomous bands of the Pit River Tribe. The protection of this culturally rich and ecologically biodiverse section of the Pit River watershed has now been returned to the Pit River Tribe, who will once again steward the property as the original indigenous caretakers of the land.
This conservation easement protects land of historical and cultural importance to the Pit River Tribe. The region as a whole is within the ancestral foraging and hunting grounds of numerous bands within the Pit River Tribe, with documented archeological artifacts found on nearby land including petroglyphs, bedrock mortars, house pits, and rock rings. The Pit River Tribe will now protect the historically significant land as its rightful ancestral heritage.
The expansive size of the property protects a variety of habitats including Montane Hardwood-Conifer, mixed chaparral, annual grasslands, and several wet meadows. These ecosystems provide essential foraging land and habitat for numerous native wildlife species. Majestic Oregon white oaks provide lofty homes to Steller’s jays and acorn woodpeckers. Deer forage in the annual grasslands growing in abundance with wild oats, soft chess, and wild barley. Quail dart from nests in fragrant sumac below Ponderosa pines. Black bears feast on buckbrush berries and shade in the surrounding oak forests.
Located adjacent to the Pit River, protection of the land is also integral to maintaining healthy waterways and habitats vital for the subsistence of many aquatic species, such as the Federally Endangered Shasta Crayfish. Many additional wildlife species including the Oregon spotted frog, western pond turtle, and rough sculpin; and riparian plant species, including the California State Endangered Boggs Lake hedge-hyssop, depend on the preservation of the land. Situated between Lake Britton and Fall River Valley, the land also contributes to the larger regional conservation values of multiple adjacent waterways and migratory bird routes.
Situated in a unique conflex of stunning vistas, the property provides clear viewsheds of several iconic regional mountains, including Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, Burney Mountain, and Saddle Mountain. Notably, the property offers a dramatic viewshed of the meandering Pit River canyon, a historically and spiritually significant land of the Wennehahle and Dawchtahpit settlement areas of the Pit River tribe. Preservation of these viewsheds and open spaces ensures the unique rural character of the landscape is unaltered by risk of development and preserves the stunning natural beauty of these ancestral lands.
A unique cultural, ecological, and scenic treasure of the Pit River canyon area, we are thankful for the support of our dedicated community and partners who helped protect this land and made this work possible.
