The namesake falls of Butte Falls, with community forest on either side of Big Butte Creek.

The next step in a years-long quest to develop significant new recreation facilities to serve locals and visitors in and around Butte Falls came to light during an open house Thursday.

Draft plans that were scheduled to be presented at the meeting call for up to 30 miles of trails on nearby federal forest land, a redesigned day-use area near the town’s namesake falls and a future campground near the falls.

“The Butte Falls Community Forest Restoration team is excited to share the results of several years of plans on this project,” Mayor Trish Callahan said in a written statement.

While many of the proposed trails would be located on nearby land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, other proposed facilities would be within the city and within 430 newly acquired acres that surround the rural town on three sides. A city commission, consultants and agency personnel helped develop plans, using earlier community input.

Butte Falls, population about 450, is located on an upland forested plateau about 21 air miles and 32 road miles northeast of downtown Medford. The city, Jackson County’s smallest, obtained the 430 acres for $1.15 million from timber company Weyerhaeuser with the help of grants.

Interest in the purchase of the site, including a historic mill site there, dates back at least five years. Donations and outlays made in 2021 for the land purchase included $400,000 from the U.S. Forest Service, $700,000 from the Oregon Legislature and $40,000 from the Oregon Community Foundation.

Once a timber company town, Butte Falls has suffered from cutbacks in logging on federal and private lands. The plans for the 430 acres and nearby BLM property aim to stimulate the local economy while serving the well-being of its residents.

Highlights of the plan include redesign of a day-use area at the falls site, a campground near the falls, a bike park, an archery range and trails for hikers and bikers. How to pay for the improvements is a work in progress.

Former Mayor Linda Spencer, an early advocate for the land acquisition, wrote about her hopes in an introduction to an earlier plan prepared in 2021 by Cascade Siskiyou Sustainable Forestry of Ashland:

“We envision a recreation system of hiking trails, and parks to enhance health and well-being; a education and research component to stimulate our understanding of natural systems; the growth of tourism to improve our economic viability; the maintenance of the forest to improve fire resistance and ecological sustainability; and a residential component that is innovative sensitive to and part of nature,” Spencer wrote.

The 2021 plan suggested the possible use of 17 acres of the newly acquired forest land for residential development, but a map released in connection with the open house shows no residential development.

Jared Nichol, field manager of the BLM’s Butte Falls office, said he’s looking forward to hearing from the public. The agency will conduct a formal environmental assessment related to proposed trails and two additional campgrounds on BLM-managed land north of the city.

“The BLM is excited to complement the town of Butte Falls’s efforts to promote economic development, recreation, tourism, and natural resources education by expanding recreation access on public lands in the area,” Nichol said.