McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park
Map SatelliteSeveral plant communities are found in this State Park, including a mixed evergreen forest with ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, the major component. Other species include incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens, Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, white fir, Abies concolor, and black oak, Quercus kelloggii. There is some riparian vegetation along the creek that includes willows, Salix sp., and black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa. The rare Agastache parvifolia grows within the park.
A variety of animal species is present in some abundance. Of note are the black swifts, Cypseloides niger, which breed here behind the waterfalls. Ouzels, Cinclus mexicanus, are found in the park, as is an occasional bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus. There is a population of the California red-legged frog, Rana aurora draytoni, here.
Burney Falls is a two-step fall, the first falling a few meters, the second 39.3 meters (129 feet). It is an outstanding example of a stream and fall fed by ground water trapped in permeable soils between lava flows. These soils often act as underground reservoirs. (See also Lava Springs State Park.)
Burney Creek, which rises some 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, provides some of the water for the falls but it is dry during the summer months for at least 16 kilometers (10 miles) of its course immediately upstream from the park. Most of the water comes from a series of springs lying upstream approximately 1 kilometer (0.625 mile) that discharge some 4,600,000 liters ( 1,200,000 gallons) per day. Additionally, from the Pliocene sedimentaries, under the late Pliocene - early Pleistocene Burney basalt lip of the falls, additional springs supplement the falls.
The gorge below the falls has been cut into weak rocks underlying the hard volcanic cap. This process is continuous, and basaltic rocks, eroded from the lip, are found downstream in the gorge.
Integrity: Portions have been a park since 1920. There are trails and various park facilities but most of the area is relatively undisturbed.
Use: Research, educational, observational, present.
Ref: Aune, Q. A., 1964. A Trip to Burney Falls. Calif. Div. Mines & Geol. Min. Infor. Service No. 17 (10), pp. 183-191.
March 1978
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman