Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area

The Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area is approx­i­mate­ly 9,600 acres and con­sists of three units: Llano Seco, Howard Slough, and Lit­tle Dry Creek. It is locat­ed with­in the Butte Basin, a low-lying area extend­ing from the Sacra­men­to Riv­er south and east to the Butte Creek drainage and south­ward to include the Butte Sink.

His­tor­i­cal­ly, this basin con­sist­ed of a braid­ed net­work of sloughs, chan­nels, and oxbows result­ing from the mean­der­ings of the Sacra­men­to Riv­er and Butte Creek, and com­prised a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of the wet­land habi­tat avail­able for win­ter­ing migra­to­ry birds. Today it is still con­sid­ered one of the finest wet­land habi­tat com­plex­es in North Amer­i­ca. The Wildlife Area was cre­at­ed to pro­tect and/​or restore some of these his­tor­i­cal wet­lands.

Dur­ing win­ter months the wildlife area may be peri­od­i­cal­ly closed due to flood­ing.

Hours: Open dai­ly sun­rise to sun­set. The Wildlife Area is open New Year’s Day and closed on Christ­mas when that day falls on a Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, or Wednesday.

Recre­ation

Activ­i­ties include fish­ing, wildlife view­ing, bird watch­ing, and sight­see­ing. A CDFW Lands Pass is required for every vis­i­tor 16 or older.

Hunt­ing

Type A: Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area includ­ing the Howard Slough Unit, Lit­tle Dry Creek Unit, and Llano Seco Unit have restrict­ed hunter access dur­ing water­fowl and pheas­ant hunt­ing sea­sons. Adult hunters are required to pur­chase a Type A hunt­ing pass in advance in order to exchange for an entry permit.

Dai­ly Hunter Capacity

• Howard Slough: up to 81 adults, with refills.
• Llano Seco: total of 78 hunters, with refills.
• Lit­tle Dry Creek: up to 96 adults, with refills in free roam only.

At least one hunt­ing blind for the mobil­i­ty impaired is avail­able on each unit. A Depart­ment of Motor Vehi­cles ID card is required to use the blind.

Autho­rized game includes deer, rab­bits, water­fowl, coots, moorhens, snipe, dove, pheas­ants, and fall turkeys. (Fall turkey is open annu­al­ly at the region­al man­ager’s dis­cre­tion. Please check with wildlife area staff pri­or to fall turkey season.)