Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park

History

Pacific Gas & Electric owned large tracts of the local swampland. Much of the shoreline of the park is on Big Lake, which was created when levees and canals were installed. A muskrat farm was operated there until the 1930s. Muskrats can still be seen in the local marshes. The non-native species is notorious for altering wetland habitat, increasing the likelihood of floods.

Visiting the park

There are no public roads leading to the park. Private motor vehicles are prohibited within. Visitors can launch boats into Big Lake at a Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) public boat launch known as Rat Farm.

There are three basic campsites. Visitors can traverse narrow waterways in canoes or kayaks. There are about 20 miles of hiking trails. Fishing is allowed but hunting is prohibited.

Native Americans

The name of the park honors the Achomawi (also spelled Ajumawi, Achumawi, and Ahjumawi) whose name translates to "where the waters come together". The park is situated at the confluence of the Fall River, a tributary of the Pit River, with several smaller creeks and streams. The Achomawi are one of eleven bands of the Pit River Tribe of native peoples. These resident people tended the local waterways, monitoring spawning beds and limiting their catches to conserve populations of the fish they used for food. The Achomawi still live in the area.

Natural history

The park sits on "one of the nation's largest systems of underwater springs."

The park is in an area where the Modoc Plateau transitions to a more coastal bioregion. The former region was formed by volcanic activity and has many associated geological features, such as lava tubes and craters that fill with spring water.

The local flora includes pines, ceanothus, western juniper, birchleaf and curlleaf mountain mahogany, and Garry oak. Birds in the area include Canada geese, snow geese, American white pelicans, blue-winged teal, Lewis's woodpeckers, northern pygmy owls, and ospreys. Other animals include black-tailed deer and coyotes.

Footnotes

References

1. [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=464 Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park.] California Department of Parks & Recreation.
2. [http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/464 Brochure: Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park.]{{dead link. (October 2016)
3. Fimrite, P. [http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Pristine-PG-E-areas-in-Shasta-to-go-public-3189595.php Pristine PG&E areas in Shasta to go public.] ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''. October 19, 2008.
4. They produce some {{convert. 1.2. e9USgal
5. Mariner, R. H., et al. (1998). [https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1998/0002/report.pdf Preliminary chemical and isotopic data for waters from springs and wells on and near Medicine Lake Volcano, Cascade Range, northern California.] USGS Open-File Report: 98-2.
6. Davisson, M. L. and Rose, T. P. (2014) Recharge and Flow in the Medicine Lake Volcano–Fall River Springs Groundwater Basin, California. [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15275922.2013.873097?journalCode=uenf20#preview] ''Environmental Forensics'' 15, 66–77.