The steppes of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are widely used by both livestock and wildlife. Both the grazing of large ungulates and the burrowing of small mammals modulate habitats used by other species. We explored the relationship between site occupancy by plateau pikas and habitat variables based on yak grazing,including the extinction and colonization rate of pikas. To accomplish this, the multi-season occupancy model was used with the program PRESENCE. There was a positive relation between vegetation cover and pika extinction rate, but a negative relation between vegetation cover and pika colonization.