Yosemite Valley City Map Poster

About Yosemite Valley

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m) with some of its peaks over 4,000 feet high; it contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral and oak woodland , lower montane forest , upper montane forest , subalpine zone (or alpine tundra), as well as lush talus slopes above treeline . Of California's 761 plant species found within Yosemite National Park only 25% occur on the east side. There are also 160 bird species in Yosemite.The geology of Yosemite National Park is characterized by granitic rocks that originated deep underground millions or even billions years ago through volcanic activity at what was then Earth's surface . About 10 million years ago during uplift these granites were exposed by erosion along joint lines which formed when parts of earth's crust moved apart so that molten rock could rise up between them.