Cessnock Provincial Forest

Cessnock Provincial Forest (Sierran Hanzi: 塞斯敲州α森) is a provincial  located in the Sierran province of Plumas, northwest of. It includes the 8,587-foot (2,617 m) peak of the Sardine Buttes near, and borders the to the north and the  to the south. The forest has a total area of 470,976 acres (735.9 sq mi. or 1,905.972 sq$2$) and is the largest non-federally protected area in Plumas. The forest is directly administered by the Plumas Department of Parks and Recreation and is headquartered in Dappe. The Cessnock Provincial Forest predominantly covers vegetation, particularly of the  variety.

The forest is a common recreational destination, which offers dozens of lakes and reservoirs, canyons, caves, rolling hills, and hundreds of miles of accessible trails. Cessnock Provincial Forest's natural water supply is a major contributor to water needs for eastern Plumas, Tahoe, Reno, and Washumko. In recent years, various recreational facilities have been installed including ice rinks (operational year-round), archery ranges, and kayaking in select locations. Vehicle and bicycling traffic along the (Golden Chain Highway) and  are the primary means for transportation, and the two divides the park roughly into quadrants through the entirety of both of the highways' course through the forest. Several populated centers are located inside the forest including Juno, the Fort Sumter Band of Kaoiyu Indians, and Volksrust. The forest has a local reputation for paranormal phenomena, including purported sightings of the legendary Snrith,, and s. It is also a location of spiritual importance to the local.

In 2016, Cessnock Provincial Forest received nearly 1.3 million visitors, its highest in the forest's history and represents a continued upward trend in visitation. Compared to nearby national parks however, Cessnock receives substantially fewer visitors. Its relatively remote location from major population centers and smaller share in international tourists are cited as major reasons to its underperformance. Since 2010, the park has received ongoing renovations to meet the increasing visitation volume and numerous projects aimed towards shielding off natural reserves from the public (including ).

Overview
Over eighty percent of the forest is designated as highly-protected, and is a bisection of the multi-provincial , which was established in 1905 by the Royal Park Service (RPS). The contemporary Cessnock Provincial Forest was established in 1972 in agreement between the province of Plumas and RPS, in which the federal government would cede over 400,000 acres of land that it owned in Plumas to the provincial government's Department of Parks and Recreation. The initiative was motivated by growing demand for parks and recreational use of the large region.

The modern English name for the forest, Cessnock, is named after a in the Scottish city of, and was given its name by the Sierran Jacobites who settled the area in the mid-19th century following the Gold Rush and foundation of the new Sierran government. Various landmarks and geographic features in the region were originally named after Scottish places by the Jacobites. However, many of these locations in the area would later being reclaimed by the New Hollander Dutch from western Plumas and newer immigrant groups (including German-speaking Swabians and Mennonites). Nonetheless, the name Cessnock prevailed, even among other language speakers.

Native Sierrans
The forest area has been long known to have been inhabited by humans in as early as 8000 BC to 5000 BC. The forest provided home and shelter, as well as hunting and fishing grounds for various Native Sierran groups, including the, the , and the. A large number of the natives lived in semi-underground housing structures built into the sides of mountain slopes. The natives lived without a formal political structure and were instead led by a small council of religious men charged primarily with arbitrating disputes and tribe-to-tribe relations. Evidence for historical settlement and culture can be found distributed throughout the park. Extensive amounts of and  have been found in the eastern section of the forest area, and such art were considered of reverent importance to the local Maidu. The local religious cult predominated the local indigenous belief systems.

Contact between the indigenous population and Westerners did not occur until the early 19th century when Dutch-speaking settlers along Western Plumas and Spanish-speaking pushed eastward into the Sierra Nevada. Interaction increased during the California Gold Rush as thousands of people from around the world came to the area in search of gold. Conflict over land use manifested in the late 19th-century Sierran-Indian Wars, before it was finally resolved in 1880 with the establishment of the modern Sierran Indian reservation system.

Today, the Fort Sumter Band of Kaoiyu Indians represents the largest and only federally recognized Indian tribe who have reservation land in the forest. Representing the largest Maidu community, reservation members have partnered with the Plumas Department of Parks and Recreation. The partnership stresses on meaningful dialogue and education about the Kaoiyu way of life and history, as well as protection of the forest environment through tour guides and other coordinated services. The reservation is located near the town of Juno and currently counts 5,672 permanent residential members.

Park creation and development
On July 3, 1972, Queen Angelina I to a bill passed by Parliament and presented to her by Prime Minister Kovrov Stoyanovich, authorizing the transfer of nearly a half of Tahoe National Forest's area to the provinces of Plumas for the purposes of localizing control in the Plumas portion of the Cessnock. It was the fourth provincial park to be established by the Province of Plumas and its largest. In 1958, much of the section had already been designated as wilderness area, protecting the forest from civilian and military development.

Concern over environmental impact in the region stalled negotiations and the transfer of ownership was not implemented until the province promised to restrict most activities and construction along the already existing K.S. Route 49, which travels through the area. Although technically qualifying as a provincial park, Plumas upheld the forest's official name as the Cessnock Provincial Forest, in homage to its primary commitment towards protecting the local environment and ecosystem.

In 2009, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy purchased Ermine Grove, a 600-acre tract of land near Sardine Buttes, for $5.6 million, to preserve the land and protect it from human development. In recent years, higher demand for human development (mainly real estate) in the area has met with fierce opposition from preservationists and environmental advocacy groups. Although twenty percent of the forest has been allotted to limited development, environmentalists fear that local residents and developers along the K.S. Route 49 would push to extend the exclusion zone into previously restricted parts of the forest.

In 1967, the Cessnock was enlarged to include forest area in between the existing northern boundary of the forest and the southern boundary of the Plumas National Forest, and new internal roads and pavement was created.

Climate
The Cessnock Provincial Forest has a (abbreviated Csb on climate maps under the ) although the forest's geography makes the area more continental and wetter than most Mediterranean areas. The forest experiences warm summers and mild winters, although nights can be very cool year-round, and it is not unusual for frosts to occur in even the summertime. Precipitation in the form of both rain and snow are strongest between the months of December and February, while July and August are typically the year's driest months.