By Marc Hoshovsky, Peter Schiffman, Bob Schneider, Tim Messick
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Nestled between the Central Valley and the Pacific Coast, the Berryessa Snow Mountain region is a place where California’s wild heart still beats strong. Here, condors once soared over oak-studded ridges, ancient volcanoes rose from the sea, and rivers carved their paths through folded mountains. This richly illustrated guide invites readers to explore one of the state’s least-known but most biologically and geologically diverse landscapes—a place of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and ongoing conservation.
Blending natural history, geology, and human story, the authors reveal how plate tectonics built this land, how fire and serpentine soils shape its living communities, and how generations of people—from Native tribes to ranchers and scientists—have come to know and care for it. Whether used as a travel companion or an armchair exploration, this book is an invitation to see California anew, through the lens of one remarkable region.
Inside You’ll Find
- An introduction to the geology, ecology, and cultural history of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and surrounding lands
- Detailed road guides for exploring both northern and southern routes through the Monument
- Accessible explanations of plate tectonics, rock formations, and California’s dynamic landscapes
- Descriptions of rare plants, wildlife, and serpentine ecosystems, and the role of fire in shaping them
- Insight into Indigenous stewardship and modern conservation efforts, including the 2024 addition of Molok Luyuk and Tribal co-stewardship
- Dozens of maps, photos, and diagrams to enhance field learning and appreciation
- Recommendations for recreation, responsible exploration, and deeper engagement with this living landscape
Book Reviews
Every bio-region deserves a book this good, but very few have them. The deep dive across all the relevant disciplines is admirable; together they make a kind of bedrock for a living relationship between active readers and the land we live on. What this book teaches us will help us to pass our home intact on to the generations to come." – Kim Stanley Robinson, popular author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards
Where a transform fault develops any kind of bend — which is not uncommon — the bend will pull apart as the two sides move, opening a sort of parallelogram, which, among soft mountains, will soon be vastly deeper than an ordinary water-sculpted valley. Lake Berryessa lies in a pull-apart basin, and so does Clear Lake.... Those two sentences are mine, legally, but they belong, in a much deeper sense, to Eldridge Moores, who taught me their meaning beside Lake Berryessa. – John McPhee, author of Assembling California
