Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve is a 303-acre University of California nature reserve near Yucca Valley in the Mojave Desert, managed by UC Irvine for teaching and research. Set where the higher San Bernardino Mountains meet the lower desert, it contains an unusual mix of habitats, from dry slopes and a wash to a rare freshwater seep in lower Railroad Wash. Its weathered boulder hills formed as drying, erosion, wind, and spalling exposed and shaped granitic bedrock. Once owned by Bruce and Jean Burns, the property now includes their former house as a field station and remains important for wildlife and biodiversity research, including two beetle species described in 2011.