Graphs and Images of Human Impact

 Here are several images that show the impacts of humans in the Sierra Nevada:

In this image we see the extreme danger of wildfire within the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and its coniferous forest. The reason the danger for wildfire is so extreme is because of the clearcutting and natural wildfire suppression. Because of the unnatural suppression, there is a large amount of litter build up that is perfect tinder for when a wildfire does occur. This excessive and unnatural amount of litter is what causes this extremely dangerous and huge wildfires. What makes these wildfires ultimately so dangerous is the encroachment of communities into natural wildfire habitat. (http://www.forestsfuture.fs.fed.us/brochures/background.htm)

Here is a graph that shows the distribution of stocked lakes and unstocked lakes in the Sierra. The lakes the government are choosing to stock are the much larger lakes which already have established, natural aquatic life. The introduction of stock fish is upsetting the natural balance of aquatic species within the Sierra.

 These two following images show the natural, historic fish distribution of the Upper Piute and French creek watersheds: the blue marks where there were no fish historically.

This image shows the total distribution of fish, by species, in the same watershed of the Piute and French creeks. In the same areas where there was naturally and historically no fish, there are now multiple non-native species that have invaded and been introduced to this area. Non-native species anywhere are bad for the natural, or native environment because they are just that: non-native. http://www.highsierrahikers.org/issue_fish_main.html