Yosemite (via postie)
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I saw a: Other It was: drinking Observation: top of vernal falls Time: Oct 3, 2009 14:45:24 PDT
Yosemite National Park (pronounced /joʊˈsÉ›mɨtiË/nyo-SEM-it-ee) is a national park spanning easternnportions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,266 acres (308,073 ha)nand reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain.[1] Yosemite is visited by over 3.5nmillion people each year, many of whom only spend time in the seven square milesn(18 km²) of YosemitenValley.[2] Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemitenis internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clearnstreams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biologicalndiversity.[2] Almost 95% of the park isndesignated wilderness.[3] Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was a focal point in thendevelopment of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people like John Muir[4] andnGalen Clark.
Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the parknsupports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,000 to 13,114 feet (600 ton4,000 m) and contains five major vegetation zones:nchaparral/oaknwoodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, andnalpine. Of California’s 7,000 plantnspecies, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitablenhabitat or documentation for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologicnformations and unique soils characterizing the restrictednranges many of these plants occupy.[2]
