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Map Satellite Though the area is a well-developed State Park, there are relatively undeveloped portions, including an uncommon sphagnum bog. Among the plants found in or near the bog are Camassia quamash ssp. quamash, Arnica longifolia, Castilleja tenuis, Ranunculus populago, Penstemon heterodoxus, Juncus sp., and Carex sp.
The forest is a mixed lodgepole and Jeffrey pine, Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana and Pinus jeffreyi, which intermingles with and grades into a white and red fir forest, Abies concolor and Abies magnifica, in the higher elevations. There is an almost pure stand of the red fir near the bog.
Animal life is typical of the mid-Sierran transition zone. Donner Lake is stocked with populations of kokanee (the landlocked sockeye salmon), Oncorhynchus nerka kennerlyi, and various trout.
Donner Lake was formed by Pleistocene glacial action scooping out a portion of the basin and leaving a moraine which impounded the water. The Park itself rests on morainal materials. There are occasional granitic erratics.
The Park has an historical museum and monument.
Integrity: Well developed as a State Park.
Use: Educational, observational, light recreational.
July 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman
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