Nestled between two mountain ranges just south of San Jose and Silicon Valley’s frantic commerce, Coyote Valley is cherished by many as a nature escape. But if they continued, the prints would reveal what Diamond, an ecologist, and Snyder, a wildlife researcher, are hunting for: a series of animal thoroughfares winding through 7,400 acres of farm fields, grasslands, and lightly developed countryside known as Coyote Valley. The tracks stretch just a few feet, fading where the sunlight hardened the soil before it could steal an impression. The prints belong to bobcats, coyotes, ground squirrels, raccoons, and sometimes mountain lions. Snyder, wearing an orange traffic vest and a beaming smile, points to the prints and says, “Highway!”ĭiamond and Snyder are animal trackers. Paw prints mottle the muddy underpass and form interweaving tracks of varying shapes and sizes.
Cars pass above their heads, but another busy road runs below their feet. Tanya Diamond and Ahíga Snyder stand under a California freeway.
Illustrated by Alexandra Munters and Rebecca Jabs. Ecologists map the paths of wild animals navigating a threatened landscape.
