Guest Column submitted by Len Mckenzie OAKHURST – “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” wrote Bob Dylan–and, indeed, they are. They always have, of course, and those words continue to ring true today. The only constant in nature, it’s been said, is change, and survival requires adapting to it.

On Christmas Day in 1900, the National Audubon Society (NAS) held it’s first Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Now this annual international bird census numbers more than 1,500 individual counts, and everyone is invited to participate in the 113th CBC, between Dec. 14, 2012, and Jan. 5, 2013. The Yosemite Area Audubon Society encourages local residents to participate in any or ...

The alpine zone at the crest of the Sierra Nevada is the highest-elevation ecosystem in California. Yosemite National Park has a large number of relatively flat, cold, windswept, unglaciated alpine summits that are possibly the oldest habitats in the region, having escaped the scouring action of glaciers by virtue of their great height. Because of their age and environmental extremes, ...