Pit River Woodland
Map SatelliteThis area, which lies to the east of the Cascade crest, contains several disjunct populations of species common in the Central Valley foothills. In the lower elevations there is a pine forest with Oregon white oak, Quercus garryana. It is in the Quercus garryana communities that most of the disjunct foothill species appear. Blue oak, Quercus douglasii, is found here, scattered throughout the community and, in places, forming open stands. There is a gap of 65 kilometers (40 miles) between the nearest populations down the Pit River. More widely distributed is the gray pine, Pinus sabiniana, which here is 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the nearest foothill population. Both species approach the Great Basin flora closest in this area.
Buck brush, Ceanothus cuneatus, occurs here, as do such other chaparral species as Lonicera interrupta, redberry, Rhamnus crocea ssp. ilicifolia, and mountain mahogany, Cercocarpus betuloides. In an easterly range extension in the County, poison oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum, is found in some of the blue-oak groves.
The area includes both Pliocene lake sediments uncovered by the river and Pleistocene basaltic flows.
Integrity: Virtually, undisturbed, though there are some jeep trails.
Use: Research, educational. Remainder, private.
Ref: Griffin, J. R. 1966. Notes on Disjunct Foothill Species near Burney, California. Leaf. West. Bot. Vol. 10, No. 15, pp. 296-298.
May 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman