The Sierra Nevada, California’s iconic mountain range, harbors thousands of remote high-elevations lakes from which water flows to sustain agriculture and cities. As climate and air quality in the region change, so do the watershed processes upon which these lakes depend. In order to understand the future of California’s ecology and natural resources, we need an integrated account of the environmental processes that underlie these aquatic systems. Synthesizing over three decades of research on the lakes and watersheds of the Sierra Nevada, this book develops an integrated account of the hydrological and biogeochemical systems that sustain them. With a focus on Emerald Lake in Sequoia National Park, the book marshals long-term limnological and ecological data to provide a detailed and synthetic account, while also highlighting the vulnerability of Sierra lakes to changes in climate and atmospheric deposition. In so doing, it lays the scientific foundations for predicting and understanding how the lakes and watersheds will respond.

From the Highroad Guide series, California Sierra Nevada, will show you the best of the West. This book is beautifully illustrated and reveals top spots for hiking, camping, biking, fishing, canoeing, birding, and scenic driving. * Easy-to-read maps * Trail descriptions for strolls, hikes, and backpacks * Human and natural history * Lists of outfitters and seasonal eventsHead for the hills well-prepared with Highroad Mountain Guides - Travel & LeisureTo call this book indispensable is almost an understatement. I have never seen so much relevant information compiled into one source - The Burlington Free Press''Detailed trail maps and pen-and-ink drawings of area flora and fauna for the traveler who likes to get off the main drag.'' - Atlanta, Georgia Journal Constitution

Of the world’s famous mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada is one of the most spectacular in the number and variety of its lakes. From Lassen Peak in the north to Mount Whitney in the south, the crest and Banks of the great barrier are flecked with the blue of thousands of them—there are 429 in Yosemite Park alone, and in a single area of 220 square miles at the southern end of Lake Tahoe there is a galaxy of more than a hundred. These ice-blue pools lie casually in the most unexpected places—in bleak cirques well above timber line, in river bottoms, in densely timbered canyons, and on the summits of boulder-strewed passes. They range in size from navigable bodies of 300 square miles to small glacial ponds of a few acres. Almost every imaginable geologic origin is represented somewhere among them, as well as some unimaginable freaks of contour. As John Muir was probably the first to point out, theirs is the charm of the unpredictable. Around them centers much of the history of California and Nevada, and until now no comprehensive effort has been made by anyone to narrate it. Dr. and Mrs. Hinkle, who are well-nigh ideally equipped to delineate the fascinating history of the Sierra lakes and their near-lying Great Basin neighbors. Both are the descendants of long lines of pioneer forebears. Both were born and grew up in Truckee, the main gateway of the transcontinental route between Nevada and California. Both are inheritors of a great love for the region and of a great mass of family and traditionary lore concerning it. Both are trained in the employment of bibliographical and historical tools for the writing of history. Finally, as husband and wife, they constitute a well-geared, smoothly functioning literary team, each member of which reinforces and supplements the labors and perceptions of the other.

Whether it be through far-flung deserts, luxuriant forests or majestic alpine terrain, when we choose to walk rather than fly or drive, something wonderful happens: our awareness and appreciation of the natural world begins to grow. It can be the faint sound of a gently meandering stream, the distinct smell of decaying leaves on a crisp autumn morning, or even a bowl of cereal that never tasted better than when eaten on a mountaintop at sunrise. Whatever your hiking dreams and goals may be, this book will inspire you to plan and realize your your journeys.

"There are few more spectacular drives on Earth than Highway 395 along the foot of the great granite wall of the Sierra Nevada. In Sierra East, Genny Smith and her team of experts tell the story of that amazing terrain, and its fantastic contours, molded by tectonic upthrusts and Pleistocene glaciers; its spectacular weathers; its amazing diversity of plant and animal life; and the human struggles over its life-giving waters."--Harold Gilliam, author of Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region "For those of us who live within the Sierra East territory, this is the 'right' side of California. It is a wondrous place to visit. This book is not a superficial tourist guide to what you may see from the scenic overlooks. It is a real guidebook covering all the natural and unnatural history as well as geology, weather, and water. There are thorough descriptions of plants and animals you may wander across plus information on how they cope with the extreme rigors of the high mountains and harsh deserts."--Sally Gaines, co-founder of the Mono Lake Committee "This is the first comprehensive natural history of the Eastern Sierra. An outstanding team of authors, with years of experience in the region, meets the challenge of covering their specialties from the Mojave Desert to the tops of 14,000-foot mountains. This diverse material is uniformly accessible in a readable style."--Frank L. Powell, Director, White Mountain Research Station, University of California, San Diego