Sierra Nevada the naturalist's companion - Johnston, Verna R. (University of California Press, 1998)
Includes bibliographical references and index
All lovers of the mountains will welcome this new and completely updated edition of Verna Johnston's classic Sierra Nevada, which originally appeared in 1970. A professional biologist, veteran ornithologist, and much-published wildlife photographer, Johnston is the perfect guide for a slow-paced natural-history trip up and over the Sierra. Beginning with the western foothills, Johnston evokes a vivid picture of the varied plant and animal life encountered as the elevation gradually increases, tops the crest, and then drops to the more precipitous and arid eastern slope. We traverse chaparral and mountain meadows, pine and fir forest, granite expanses and snowy peaks. Along the way, we read of the Native Americans' uses and stewardship of the land, the role of fire in forest ecology, the era of sheepherders and loggers, the work of John Muir and other preservationists, and the battles to save Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. We encounter old-growth forests and riparian greenery, tule elk and mountain beaver. There have been many changes in the Sierra since the first edition of this book was published, including an increase in acid snow, tensions between cougars and people, and a worrying drop in amphibian populations. Johnston documents the changes and updates the ecological research in the same rich, evocative writing style that has made her book a naturalist's treasure