Stroll Through the Chico Seed Orchard

Take a walk with your favorite four-legged friend (on leash) or enjoy a creek­side lunch at one of the sev­en estab­lished pic­nic sites.

The high tree canopies, often filled with birds, cre­ate the feel of a bustling bird aviary. The loop trail, on-site restroom, and wheel­chair acces­si­bil­i­ty make this loca­tion easy and enjoy­able for the whole family.

This facil­i­ty is part of the Men­do­ci­no Nation­al Forest and began in 1904 as the Plant Intro­duc­tion Field Sta­tion. Hun­dreds of plants were col­lect­ed from around the world and were brought back to Butte Coun­ty to be grown and researched by the Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture.

This 209-acre botan­i­cal gem is the first home in the U.S. for many famil­iar plants, includ­ing the kiwifruit, pis­ta­chio, jujube fruit, and Mey­er lemons. You can still find many of these orig­i­nal plants, some of which are labeled with inter­pre­tive signs along the mile-long paved nature path.

Cur­rent­ly, the Chico Seed Orchard focus­es on pro­duc­ing seed trees for projects such as refor­esta­tion, wild­fire recov­ery, water­shed restora­tion, and mine reclamation.

Chico Seed Orchard Hours

• Main Gate: Open 7am to 3pm, Mon­day through Friday.
• Pedes­tri­an Gate
  • Sum­mer: March 1 — Octo­ber 31: Open sev­en days a week from 7am to 7pm.
  • Win­ter: Novem­ber 1 — Feb­ru­ary 29: Open sev­en days a week from 7am to 5pm.
• Closed on holidays

Direc­tions

Google Maps | Apple Maps

1. Make your way to Chico via High­way 99.
2. Exit east onto Sky­way (Exit 383).
3. Dri­ve a quar­ter of a mile and turn right on Dominic Drive.
4. At the end of the road, turn left onto Mor­row Lane.
5. Take the next right onto Cramer Lane.
6. Pro­ceed for about 2,000 feet; park­ing is avail­able just out­side the gate. Addi­tion­al park­ing is avail­able inside the gate dur­ing oper­at­ing hours.