Monumental Questions - Berryessa Snow Mountain, Wildlife Corridor
Nate Lillge • December 7, 2023
Wildlife corridors, natural habitat connecting populations of wildlife, are important to maintaining biodiversity and enabling species to adapt to climate change. Providing fauna (and flora) corridors through which to move helps ensure healthy and diverse ecosystems.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument encompasses 330,780-acres, stretches 100 miles south to north, and includes many different ecosystems – open oak grasslands to chaparral to subalpine. Elevations within the Monument also vary from near-sea level to subalpine. The steep hillsides and narrow valleys throughout the region provide many microclimates.
Both the length and the elevation profile of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument provides plants and animals with the opportunity to find suitable habitat. As temperatures increase due to climate change, it is likely that organisms will move northward and upslope. Maintaining the existing corridors in and around the Monument will provide vulnerable species a chance to survive.
Elk, mountain lions, deer, bobcats, snakes, birds, and many other animals require corridors to find food and refuge. By protecting and maintaining these corridors these populations will remain healthy
Molok Luyuk, the ridge immediately east of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, is an essential wildlife corridor that is currently not included in the Monument. The ridge is orientated north-south which allows for northward migration, while the elevation gain from Indian Valley Reservoir to the west and Bear Valley to the east (approximately 2000 feet) provides for upslope movement. By including Molok Luyuk in Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, another important wildlife corridor will be protected.
-Nate Lillge (nlillge@tuleyome.org)
Tuleyome Adventures and Engagement Director
Certified California Naturalist
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