Butte Creek Farms has been owned by the Otterson family for over 75 years. Over the years the 2,832 acre ranch has been developed into a rice and row crop operation.

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Over 300 acres of the ranch have been set aside for wildlife which includes oak groves, sloughs, riparian areas along the river, Butte Creek and pond areas.

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Butte Creek Farms floods rice fields after harvest to decompose rice straw and to improve wildfowl habitat. The ranch is a primary wintering area for ducks, geese, and many other bird species. During the waterfowl season, the land is utilized as a hunting club.

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Butte Creek Farms have progressive in developing fish screens for its main river pumping station and its Butte Creek pumps. In 2002 a new pumping facility was constructed on Butte Creek with a retractable fish screen, which was operational for winter flood in October 2002. Both fish screens operated during the 2010 crop season without any major problems which resulted in achieving our goal of protecting the fish resources.

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Butte Creek Farms completed a new 40 year contract with the Bureau of Reclamation in 2005 for our river flow rights. We are currently working through RD 1004 and all agencies to improve our Butte Creek flows with fish screens and control structures.

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Butte Creek Farms water resources are very valuable, and we devote substantial time and resources to protect and develop them.

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In 2009, Butte Creek Farms started to develop our river frontage property, Colusa Landing. We are in the process of rezoning the 88-acre Mayfair field to Resort/Commercial to realize the long-term potential of this property.