Hiking with a wildlife author who studies Yosemite’s high peaks: ‘These animals are our equals’ | ca
A The loud call was followed by a flash of movement across a pile of rocks on a high country slope in Yosemite National Park. “Hello Sophie!” Beth Pratt responded to the feisty rotund pika that briefly appeared to stand defiantly in the sun.
Pratt, a leading conservationist and wildlife advocate, has spent more than a decade monitoring the small mammals and other inhabitants of these tranquil granite domes and the alpine meadows they overlook, which sparkle with gold on a mid-October afternoon.
Their stories are combined in Pratt’s new book, Wildlife in Yosemite: The Marvel of Animal Life in California’s Sierra Nevada — the first in more than a century to focus solely on the more than 150 species of creatures that call the park home.
Pratt’s book is designed to be more than just a coffee table volume. Each chapter contains intimate stories, facts and insights about a different animal. The book is not necessarily meant to be read from cover to cover. Rather, it was inspired by the encyclopedias she got lost in when she was a child.
Combined with hundreds of images from nature photographer Rob Hirsch, as well as archival photographs, natural history, and research, her story transports readers into a world they often don’t have access to. It is published by the Yosemite Conservancy, and proceeds directly benefit the park.
Besides giving a glimpse into the lives of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects that live in one of the country’s most expensive parks, Pratt hopes to foster a deeper connection with the tenacious creatures that survive the harshest conditions.
“We think we as humans are so exceptional, but come here and even the smallest creatures will put you in your place very quickly,” she said.
The world Pratt depicts is fierce and fragile: butterflies, weighing no more than a feather, fly over 12,000-foot (3,650-meter) peaks. Freshwater crustaceans called fairy shrimp come to life in small, temporary pools left after mountain snows melt, and their eggs can persist for up to a century, waiting out the suspended lives of the right conditions. Pratt even saw a badger chasing a wolf.
But it also highlights how vulnerable these animals have become. The climate crisis and creeping development into previously wild places have added challenges even for the most resilient.
““People don’t understand that wildlife operates on the thinnest of margins possible,” Pratt said, pausing to move the caterpillars from the road into the bushes in the direction they were headed. “Something like running over their nests or leaving trash out can lead to animal death, habitat loss, or scare off an animal that doesn’t have a lot of energy reserves to begin with,” Pratt said, pausing to move the caterpillars from the road and into the bushes in the direction they were heading.
“Fill your eyes with wonder”
For more than 30 years, Pratt has served in environmental leadership roles, including leading the campaign behind the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world, which spans 10 lanes on a busy highway near Los Angeles.
Her work helped the city fall in love with P-22, an iconic urban mountain lion who lived in Griffith Park and died after being hit by a car in 2022, which inspired the P-22 Day festival — held in October of this year — to honor and raise awareness about wildlife conservation. She is also a book author I love wildlife and when mountain lions are neighbors.
But since her first visit after moving from Massachusetts to California in 1991 when she was 22, “Yosemite has possessed me,” she writes in the book’s introduction. Her love of national parks, first introduced in a book she dreamed about in middle school, was reinforced during her first winter trip to the park she now refers to as her “north star.”
For 25 years, Pratt has made her home in the Sierra foothills just outside Yosemite, making frequent trips through the park’s gates.
With her new book, she invites the public to delve into a 15-year process: Pratt said she’s about halfway through an attempt to record three decades of changes at Yosemite’s highest elevations.
The hike up to the area that Pratt affectionately refers to as “Pica Hill” is a steep trail, but the rewards come quickly. “This is my happy place,” she said, pointing to a rugged ridgeline and a 13-mile (21-kilometer) route she has traveled countless times over the years to document her friends’ performances. The trail extends from Yosemite’s eastern entrance onto Tioga Pass—a scenic route that winds through the Sierra at nearly 10,000 feet—and provides access to dramatic scenery in a less-traveled part of the park.
The high country is one of the places where Pratt feels most at home and inspired the introduction to her book. “Fill your eyes with wonder,” she quotes author Ray Bradbury, calling it a credo. Here, it’s easy to do.
In the distance, a lone wolf was stalking across the amber plains in search of a snack. Above, there was a hawk, caught by the wind, hovering in place. Sophie the Pika retreated into tunnels dug deep under the rocks, while a blue lake sparkled on the horizon in the afternoon sun.
Although her process is rooted in scientific observation, it is simple: “I walk around and pay attention.” Pratt’s patience was rewarded time and again with rare encounters.
She is one of the few people to have seen owls hiding here. I’ve watched black bears sniff the air, and headed the “Salamander Flight,” an annual walk of the small, rusty-colored amphibians as they descend down the canyon to their breeding pools near the Merced River.
“When I was younger, it was an incentive to see different places,” she said. “Now I really focus on one place.” She knows the landscape well, observing it from week to week through the seasons, and they are beginning to get to know her in return. Sophie Albeka wasn’t going to show it to anyone.
“I treat them as people, because they are to me,” she said. “They are our equals.”
It has been her life’s mission to be a voice for those who don’t have one, something she said was inspired by her love of wildlife and the late Jane Goodall. Goodall, who died earlier this year, was a primatologist and a pioneer in her field, who also named the animals she worked with — a practice once seen as a reversal of scientific norms.
Goodall’s work has inspired people around the world to care more about wildlife and the negative impact humans have, and Pratt’s work continues that legacy.
“Her loss couldn’t come at a worse time,” Pratt said. “All of us who do work for wildlife need to be louder now.”
National parks face threats
Before returning to the parking lot, Pratt called Sophie one last time. They may never meet again. Soon the pikas are burrowing deep under the snow, seeking protection from the cold due to the drifts and piles of vegetation they have collected to make their way across.
“You can see it’s the last shout — they can tell something is coming and they’re out here preparing,” Pratt said, before returning to the trail down the hill. There was work to do for both Sophie and Pratt.
The effects of climate change continue to be felt. Support for wildlife protection has eroded under the Trump administration, which has decimated budgets and pushed extractive policies. Yosemite and national parks more broadly face greater threats; If we are left without adequate staff, more pressure will be placed on the landscape and the animals that live in it.
“Some days I feel hopeless,” she added. The setting sun provided one last gorgeous glow as it slowly sank behind the purple horizon. “Then I think about the pikas that have to gather three months’ worth of hay to live under the snow for the winter. Or these butterflies that literally flock over the peaks with torn wings. Or the Yosemite frog that sometimes has to walk up to a mile over the snow to reach their breeding grounds.”
As the first significant snow appeared in the dark clouds gathering above, another winter was on its way. The rally was coming to an end as the season ended. But plans have already been made for the future. She will be back soon.
“If these animals can do this, we’ve got this,” she said.