After my recent travel to beaches and coastal wetlands of the Southeastern U.S., I thought I would visit Coastal Colorado today, a term I have previously applied to the lakes, gravel pits, sloughs and canals across the South Platte Valley of northeastern Colorado.
Unlike the Southeastern wetlands, those of the South Platte Valley are not characterized by lush, verdant vegetation. Rather, in this semiarid climate, trees (mostly plains cottonwoods) are found only along the river, its primary tributaries or irrigation canals. Since this summer has been especially hot and dry, the natural grasslands have browned, adorned only by clumps of prairie sunflowers and rabbitbrush. Though I saw hundreds (if not thousands) of American white pelicans (especially at Barr Lake State Park), most avian species were limited in number; among these were Swainson's hawks, American kestrels, western grebes, cattle egrets, Franklin's gulls, American avocets and shorebirds that were too distant to identify.
I have been visiting this region in late summer for more than thirty years, enjoying the mosaic of shortgrass prairie, cropfields and ranchlands that surround the river, lakes and wetlands. In recent years, however, fracking wells and oil storage tanks have begun to dominate the scene in some areas and one wonders what impact they will have on the quality of the water and the welfare of the aquatic ecosystems.
Unlike the Southeastern wetlands, those of the South Platte Valley are not characterized by lush, verdant vegetation. Rather, in this semiarid climate, trees (mostly plains cottonwoods) are found only along the river, its primary tributaries or irrigation canals. Since this summer has been especially hot and dry, the natural grasslands have browned, adorned only by clumps of prairie sunflowers and rabbitbrush. Though I saw hundreds (if not thousands) of American white pelicans (especially at Barr Lake State Park), most avian species were limited in number; among these were Swainson's hawks, American kestrels, western grebes, cattle egrets, Franklin's gulls, American avocets and shorebirds that were too distant to identify.
I have been visiting this region in late summer for more than thirty years, enjoying the mosaic of shortgrass prairie, cropfields and ranchlands that surround the river, lakes and wetlands. In recent years, however, fracking wells and oil storage tanks have begun to dominate the scene in some areas and one wonders what impact they will have on the quality of the water and the welfare of the aquatic ecosystems.
