Transcript Yosemite National Park - University of West Alabama

Yosemite
National
Park
Location
• Yosemite National Park lies in the central
Sierra Nevada Mountains.
• It is about 150 miles east of San Francisco.
Location
Visiting Yosemite National Park
• Over 3.5 million people visit Yosemite National
Park each year.
• There is $20 per car fee to enter the park.
• This fee is good for unlimited entry for 7 days.
Geological Formation
• Yosemite Valley was formed when the Sierra Nevada
Mountains were thrust from the ocean’s floor about 500
million years ago.
• The Merced River has cut canyons as it has flowed west
through the Yosemite region.
• Glaciers cut even deeper and also widened the canyons.
• When the glaciers thawed, parts of the canyons broke off,
leaving sheered cliffs. Creeks and rivers flow over these
sheers, making beautiful waterfalls like Yosemite Falls.
• Sediment from tributary rivers and creeks eventually filled
in Yosemite Lake, producing Yosemite Valley.
The Merced River begins in Yosemite National Park and flows
west across central California.
The Tuolumne River begins north of the Merced River, flows
west across Yosemite, and through the San Joaquin Valley.
Merced River
Tuolumne River
Human Inhabitants
The First Inhabitants:
The Awaneechee Indians
Gold Miners take over in
1851
Types of Environments in Yosemite
• The park has an
elevation range from
2,000 to 13,123 feet
and contains five major
vegetation zones:
chaparral/oak
woodland, lower
montane, upper
montane, subalpine and
alpine.
Unique Soil Types Yield Rare Plant Species
• Three-bract Onion
• Species Threatened by vehicles
• Chaparral or lower montane habitat
Allium tribracteatum
• Slender stemmed monkeyflower
• Lower montane coniferous forest
• often in burned or disturbed areas
• Slender stemmed monkeyflower
• Threatened by logging and invasive species
Mimulus gracilipes
The Beginning of Yosemite
National Park
In 1864, Abraham
Lincoln signed the
Yosemite Grant to set
aside Yosemite Valley
and the Mariposa
Grove of Redwoods as
a state of California
supervised public
reserve.
1n 1890, John Muir and Robert Underwood
Johnson, editor of Century magazine,
persuaded Congress into preserving the
highlands of Yosemite as a national park. They
wanted to protect the highlands from grazing
and timber harvesting.
John Muir and a park
ranger at Yosemite.
John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt in 1903 at Glacier Point
in Yosemite National Park. Both men were
instrumental in the establishment of the National Parks
System to which Yosemite belongs.
Yosemite National
Park occupies
roughly
761,260 acres.
Fire Management in Yosemite
• Fires were suppressed for
many years.
• A “let burn” policy and
prescribed burning are
used these days.
• Forest fires help clear dead
vegetation, expose mineral
soil, open up canopy for
sunlight to reach ground,
recycle nutrients, and help
control disease.
• Evidence of a fire started by
lightning in 1990 is still
visible.
Animal Management in Yosemite
• There are 300 species of
vertebrates in the borders
of Yosemite National Park.
• 85 are native species.
• Black bears have required
the most management.
• Incidents involving bears
and humans have
decreased 90% in recent
years.
Other Animals
• 9 of 17 species of bats
native to Yosemite are on
the Federal or California
Species of Concern List.
• Great gray owls live in an
isolated population in
Yosemite. The next nearest
population is hundreds of
miles away.
Other Rare Animals in Yosemite
• Willow flycatcher
•
Sierra Nevada
red fox
wolverine
Features of Yosemite
Yosemite Falls
Merced River falls over a sheer; then it
flows across the Yosemite Valley.
Yosemite Valley
The destination of most visitors
Half Dome
Mariposa Groove of Giant Redwoods
Get soaked by the mist as you walk along Mist
Trail toward Vernal Fall of the Merced River.