Llano Seco Unit

The Llano Seco Unit is part of the Steve Thomp­son North Cen­tral Val­ley Wildlife Man­age­ment Area, and is sit­u­at­ed about 10 miles south­west of the city of Chico. The Unit con­sists of 1,732 acres, com­prised pri­mar­i­ly of wet­lands and grass­lands with some ripar­i­an habi­tats. It is open one hour before sun­rise to one hour after sun­set daily.

View­able Wildlife 

The Unit sup­ports large pop­u­la­tions of win­ter­ing water­fowl, as well as oth­er species such as: bald eagle, moun­tain lion, bob­cat, State-list­ed as threat­ened greater sand­hill cranes, Swain­son’s hawk, fed­er­al­ly threat­ened giant garter snakes and val­ley elder­ber­ry long­horn bee­tle, fed­er­al­ly endan­gered ver­nal pool tad­pole shrimp and ver­nal pool fairy shrimp, and species of con­cern Cal­i­for­nia lin­deriel­la and Fer­ris’s milk-vetch.

Get great views of the wildlife that calls the Unit home from the two obser­va­tion plat­forms along the half-mile walk­ing trail. Both are open to the pub­lic from one hour before sun­rise to one hour after sun­set. The best time for bird watch­ing is Novem­ber through February.

The Dif­fer­ent Areas

The Llano Seco Unit con­sists of two dis­tinct areas: the non-pub­lic use Sanc­tu­ary I (967 acres) and the pub­lic-use Sanc­tu­ary II (765 acres). On Sanc­tu­ary II, vis­i­tors can engage in wildlife obser­va­tion, pho­tog­ra­phy, envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion and inter­pre­ta­tion. Hunt­ing is not permitted.

Direc­tions

Trav­el­ing south on I‑5

• Exit at Hwy 32 at Orland
• Go 10 miles east on Hwy 32
• Go 8 miles south on Hwy 45
• Go 5.7 miles east on Ord Fer­ry Rd
• Go 2.1 miles south on Sev­en Mile Ln
• Turn right into North Cen­tral Val­ley WMA — Llano Seco Unit park­ing lot

Trav­el­ing north on I‑5

• Exit at Road 68 (9.1 miles north of Maxwell)
• Go 4 miles north on Hwy 99W
• Go 9.6 miles east on Road ⁶⁰⁄₆₁ to Four Corners.
• Con­tin­ue 5 miles east on Hwy 162
• Go 10.8 miles north on Coun­ty Rd Z/​Seven Mile Ln
• Turn left into North Cen­tral Valley