Butte Creek Archives - ChicoSol News

After canal failure, Butte Creek Canyon residents ask for accountability Canyon residents want long-term plan for salmon survival

photo by Karen Laslo

Mechoopda Indian Tribe Environmental Director He-Lo Ramirez said a “primary goal” is the restoration of wild salmon on Butte Creek.

by Leslie Layton
posted Aug. 29

How to hold Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. accountable was a top concern at an Aug. 24 community meeting in Butte Creek Canyon following the canal failure that created a landslide earlier this month.

Butte Creek Canyon residents, still worried about the welfare of this year’s relatively small spring run of wild Chinook salmon, also want to know how future accidents can be prevented and whether steps to conserve the fragile ecosystem will be taken. The canal failure washed out a hillside, for a short time damming the creek and for a couple of days turning it sludgy orange. read more

PG&E canal failure under investigation Were state officials notified in a timely manner?

This photo was taken by an observer of the devastation caused by the canal breach.

by Leslie Layton
posted Aug. 15

The failure of the PG&E-operated Butte Canal that caused a landslide into Butte Creek last week, turning the water a sludgy-orange, is under investigation by the law enforcement arm of the state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife.

“We’re very aware of the situation there,” said Peter Tira, an information officer for the department. “Butte Creek has the largest spring run of wild Chinook salmon in California, and that’s the reason we monitor it so closely.” read more

PG&E canal failure a threat to salmon, wildlife Harthorn: "This event is an underwater Camp Fire"

by Leslie Layton
posted Aug. 12
This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 with an additional response from Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E).

The breach in PG&E-operated Butte Canal that has turned Butte Creek into orange sludge will turn out to be the death knell for many salmon and some members of other species, says fisheries expert Allen Harthorn. read more

Four confirmed deaths of unhoused residents this year

ChicoSol has confirmed the following deaths, all taking place on streets or in encampments in 2024:

River Chase Bernreuter, 25. His body was found Feb. 2 on Business Lane.

Kenneth James Corbitt, 44, whose body was found Feb. 5 on Fair Street.

Francisco Franco, 61, of Chico. His body was found Feb. 15 on Business Lane.

Julie Bergstrom, 41, of Oroville. Bergstrom was found dead Feb. 29 at the Alternate Site encampment approved by the City for unhoused individuals.

City attorney: “Public take over” was an emergency

In a Jan. 17 email to ChicoSol, City Attorney John Lam said the City was not in violation of the Brown Act when it held a Jan. 6 emergency meeting.

Lam said the use of City property near The Hands sculpture in back of the Municipal Center by the nonprofit Safe Space the previous day had amounted to a “public take over.”

Safe Space, which operates an emergency winter sheltering program, ran intake in the space from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 5, an operation that it says proceeded smoothly. The group’s leadership said it believed that it was using public property as defined in the City code, and wasn’t required to get special permission.