Over 700 acres of protected forestland in Moonridge featuring the largest and best examples of pebble plain habitat — found nowhere else in the world. Seventeen federally protected plant species call this home.
A Unique Ecosystem
Pebble plains are a globally rare habitat type found only in the Big Bear Valley of the San Bernardino Mountains. These open, rocky clearings support tiny wildflowers known as “belly plants” — so named because you have to get on your belly to appreciate their miniature beauty.
The plants grow in heavy clay soil loaded with quartzite pebbles left behind from an ancient Ice Age lake. Two ecological reserves work to preserve this rare habitat: Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve and the Pebble Plains reserve in Moonridge.