All lovers of the mountains will welcome Verna Johnston's new and completely updated edition of her classic, Sierra Nevada, originally published in 1970. A professional biologist, veteran ornithologist, and well-known wildlife photographer, Johnston is the perfect guide for a natural-history trip into the Sierra. Regardless of how one explores the magnificent 400-mile-long mountain range, on foot or by car, in an armchair or a classroom, this is the book to have.

Beginning with the western foothills, Johnston evokes a vivid picture of the varied plant and animal life encountered as the elevation increases, tops the crest, and drops to the more precipitous, arid eastern Sierra slope. The reader is taken through chaparral and mountain meadows, pine and fir forests, granite expanses and snowy peaks. Johnston writes of the Native Americans' uses and stewardship of the land, the role of fire in forest ecology, the eras of sheep herders and loggers, the work of John Muir and other preservationists, and the battles to save Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Her lifetime of field experience and discovery offers intimate observations of rarely recorded events: the courtship of the Sierra Nevada salamander, a wolverine attacking two bears, a fight to the death between a skink and a scorpion.

Many changes have occurred in the Sierra since the first edition of this book was published, including acid snow, tensions involving human and cougar habitats, and an ominous drop in amphibian populations. Johnston documents these events and updates the ecological research in the rich, evocative writing style that makes her book a naturalist's treasure. This is a guide to the Sierra Nevada for the next millennium.

This field guide dedicated to wildlife of Yellowstone National Park is an information-packed, pocket-sized book that introduces park visitors to the animals, plants, insects and more that reside in Yellowstone National Park in a colorful and portable package. Published in cooperation with Yellowstone National Park Association, this Nature Guide to Yellowstone National Park contains full-color photos and easy-to-understand descriptions. Here is the perfect companion guide for the 3 million visitors who travel to Yellowstone National Park every year.

This book is your ticket to the myriad public lands and outdoor recreation opportunities in the Centennial State.Best-selling author, Marty Bartholomew, will guide you to the most spectacular vistas, peaks, and waterways in Colorado, and provide lodging and restaurant suggestions along the way. Gorgeous color photographs accompany the text.

The author covers the national wildlife refuges, state and national parks, animal and plant life, history, as well as Colorado's legendary rivers and lakes.

Out-of-staters and residents alike will find much of interest in this full-color guide.

This beautifully illustrated and user-friendly book presents the most up-to-date information available about the natural histories of birds of the Sierra Nevada, the origins of their names, the habitats they prefer, how they communicate and interact with one another, their relative abundance, and where they occur within the region. Each species account features original illustrations by Keith Hansen.

In addition to characterizing individual species, Birds of the Sierra Nevada also describes ecological zones and bird habitats, recent trends in populations and ranges, conservation efforts, and more than 160 rare species. It also includes a glossary of terms, detailed maps, and an extensive bibliography with over 500 citations.

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains is an engagingly written, portable history and identification guide for the flora, fauna, and geology of the region. This guide also includes information about the landscape and weather. Packed with 800 color photographs, this is the perfect overview of the Pacific Northwest if you are looking for a simple way to discover the great outdoors.
 

The Concho Valley, named from the abundant mussel shells found in its principal river by seventeenth-century Spanish explorers, occupies a transitional position between the Chihuahuan Desert to the west and the Balcones Canyonlands to the east. As veteran field biologist and educator Terry C. Maxwell notes, the region has experienced wide-ranging changes in the makeup of its vertebrate populations, especially in the decades since farming and ranching began here in earnest, in the mid- to late 1800s.

In Wildlife of the Concho Valley, Maxwell provides the first comprehensive summary of the animal life in this undercovered region of the state, which also happens to be his home territory. Uniquely qualified after a lifetime of study and field work, Maxwell places the region in its biogeographic context and then charts the history of vertebrate investigation there from the seventeenth century to the present. Following this ecological and historical perspective are accounts of all the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals reliably known by zoologists and naturalists to have occurred in the Concho Valley over the past 150 years. The species accounts include Latin and English names; distribution and abundance status; remarks, where the author elaborates on habitat preference, behavior, and other aspects of natural history; specimens reported; and subspecies and synonyms.

This important work of traditional natural history is liberally illustrated with Maxwell’s own drawings, photographs, and maps. An invaluable reference, Wildlife of the Concho Valley is a major contribution from one of the state’s most respected biologists and teachers.

Published in cooperation with the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. This book describes 200 wildflowers common to the Rocky Mountains.