Butte Environmental Council, Inc.

In 2011, BEC began working with the City of Chico to establish a community garden on unimproved city land. We're so happy to be able to recognize, share, and celebrate the incredible power of our soil and climate to provide us with the plants that we humans love; food, flowers, and medicine. Putting our hands in the dirt has the power to heal our hearts and minds, and bind us to the cycles of nature--and each other. Join us in this great community project.

RARE (Recycling and Rubbish Education) is a Butte County funded program hosted by the Butte Environmental Council that seeks to educate Butte County's community about the solid waste stream and the importance of the 4R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (compost). The RARE program provides FREE hands-on, interactive, and fun educational workshops for ages K-12 in the areas of Recycling, Compost, and Auto Oil Recycling. During these trying times, RARE is dedicated to providing education and information on the topics covered in our typical workshops: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (Compost)! We want to give you plenty of opportunities to continue the lessons out of the classroom. Download our RARE Activity Guides and you will find lesson plans, educational videos, crafts, and upcycling projects that you can do from the comfort of your house! It is easy to reduce your waste, get creative, and have fun while learning about ways to care for the Earth.

Under the tax-exempt fiscal sponsorship of the Butte Environmental Council, Chico Tree Advocates (CTA) is a group of concerned citizens with four goals to address the current situation in which we find our urban forest:
1. Putting together a group of volunteers who want to monitor our urban forest and plant trees.
2. Contact the City Council to and urge them to properly fund an adequate tree crew.
3. Amend the Draft Urban Forest Management Plan with some enforceable performance criteria and get it adopted.
4. Encourage citizens to check the agendas on-line and attend Bidwell Park & Playground Commission; Architectural Review or Planning Commission meetings when trees are on the Agenda, and advocate for trees.

This program started in 2017 with partnership from Northern Rural Communities, Inc., PG&E, and RHA whose focus is to provide education and resources on energy conservation to the communities it serves. Through hosting free community demos and workshops, offering presentations to small and medium sized businesses, and in organizing local resource fairs, the program provides access to information, tools and resources that both home owners and renters can utilize to conserve energy.

ODEC is made up of Oroville community leaders and citizens working to protect the community from current and future sources of dioxin. The group is always open to working with other local community advocates and has strong ties to many diverse groups in Oroville.

If you live in Oroville and want to find out about dioxin contamination in your community, or ask questions/voice concerns, please visit and "Like" our Facebook page.