%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2445--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2445.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Sand%20Dunes%20Media%204_0.jpg?itok=fdNAA0xH" width="1090" height="818" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Sand Dunes</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Great Sand Dunes National Park. In the background: Sangre de Cristo Mountains.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2446--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2446.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-1"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Sand%20Dunes%20Media%205_0.jpg?itok=CnXF46dy" width="640" height="480" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-1" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Sand Dunes</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>San Luis Valley and the Great Sand Dunes, with the Sangre de Cristo Range in background — Colorado.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2447--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2447.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-2"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Sand%20Dunes%20Media%206_0.jpg?itok=SQ28VUEU" width="750" height="519" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-2" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Sand Dunes</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Great Sand Dunes National Park</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3552--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3552.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Great_Sand_Dunes_NP_20210314_0.jpg?itok=joPmG8jI" width="1090" height="618" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/great-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>March is the snowiest month for the San Luis Valley. This picture shows sand dunes covered in snow.&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-03-31T16:17:15-06:00" title="Friday, March 31, 2017 - 16:17" class="datetime">Fri, 03/31/2017 - 16:17</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve" data-a2a-title="Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fgreat-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve&amp;title=Great%20Sand%20Dunes%20National%20Park%20and%20Preserve"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Great Sand Dunes sprawl along the eastern fringes of the vast <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a> of south central Colorado, covering an area of nearly thirty square miles. They are the tallest <em>aeolian</em> (wind-produced) dunes in North America, heaping mounds of sand that tower more than 700 feet above the valley floor. The Great Sand Dunes also serve as a cultural crossroads for more than 10,000 years of human history, from Paleolithic big-game hunters to nomadic Native Americans, Spanish conquistadors, transcontinental explorers, hard rock miners, and modern-day tourists in motor homes.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Originally designated as a national monument in 1932, the Great Sand Dunes attained official national park and preserve status in 2004. This stunning landscape now encompasses a spectacular array of natural and cultural features, ranging from the main dunefield and vast sand sheet to verdant <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/wetlands-and-riparian-areas"><strong>wetlands</strong></a>, hardy grasslands, ancient archaeological sites, subalpine forests, and the lofty summits of the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains.</strong></p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Formation of the Dunes</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>While the exact age of the Great Sand Dunes is unknown, geologists agree that the San Luis Valley’s strong southwesterly winds bear primary responsibility for their initial formation. For untold centuries, prevailing winds have swept loose sand eastward over and across the floor of the valley, piling it near a series of three low passes that form a distinct pocket in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains: Music Pass to the north, Medano Pass in the middle, and Mosca Pass to the south. Funneled into these low passes by the broad flanks of <strong>Blanca Peak</strong> and the formidable barrier of the high Sangres, the sand-laden wind loses its momentum to friction and turbulence. No longer capable of carrying its load, the wind continually deposits sand at the foot of the Sangres. Northeasterly reversing winds gusting through the low passes in the Sangres in the opposite direction of the prevailing southwesterly winds also contribute to the dunes’ tremendous height.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Wildlife at the Dunes</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>A surprising variety of animal life thrives in or near the dunes, including at least seven species of native insects that are found nowhere else in the world. The most notable of these is the predatory Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle. Kangaroo rats, masters of water conservation, thrive in the vegetated areas among the shifting sands. Raccoons, porcupines, squirrels, and cottontail and jackrabbits browse the grasslands and <strong>piñon-juniper</strong> forests that surround the dunes. Ravens, swallows, nighthawks, and golden eagles ride the valley’s persistent thermal winds while <a href="/article/rocky-mountain-elk"><strong>elk</strong></a>, <a href="/article/mule-deer"><strong>mule deer</strong></a>, <strong>bison</strong>, and pronghorn find sustenance amid the shrubs and grasses that dot the broad valley floor. Native predators such as <strong>black bears</strong>, <a href="/article/mountain-lion"><strong>mountain lions</strong></a>, <strong>bobcats</strong>, and <strong>coyotes</strong> prowl the woodlands and foothills adjacent to the dunes. Higher up, <a href="/article/bighorn-sheep"><strong>bighorn sheep</strong></a> thrive on the rugged flanks of the lofty Sangres. Each of these species has adapted to the harsh, arid conditions of the region, and each contributes to the compelling ecological diversity and complexity of the Great Sand Dunes.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Footprints in the Sand</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The first human visitors to the Great Sand Dunes were the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clovis"><strong>Clovis</strong></a> people. <a href="/article/radiocarbon-dating-0"><strong>Radiocarbon dating</strong></a> of stone tools and projectile points discovered near the Great Sand Dunes indicates that Clovis people first entered the San Luis Valley sometime during the Late Pleistocene era, perhaps as early as 11,000 years ago, followed by the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/folsom-people"><strong>Folsom people</strong></a> around 10,500 years ago. Intense climatic fluctuations during this period produced a moist landscape of interconnected lakes, ponds, and marshes that attracted migrating herds of mammoth, bison, and other large game animals to the region, which in turn attracted the Clovis, Folsom, and later <a href="/article/paleo-indian-period"><strong>Paleo-Indian</strong></a> cultures to the region. Later Native American cultures included the <strong>Apache</strong>, <strong>Navajo</strong>, Pueblo, and <a href="/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute</strong></a>, with the latter eventually emerging as the dominant culture in the San Luis Valley. Like the Clovis, the Utes visited the Great Sand Dunes on a seasonal basis only, hunting wild game during the summer months and retreating to warmer climes when winter arrived.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Historians still debate the identity of the first European to arrive in the San Luis Valley; some argue that it was Juan de Zaldívar or his brother Vicente in 1598, while others contend that it was Don Diego de Vargas in 1694. Whoever got there first, the Spaniards who followed in their wake wrote the earliest descriptions of the San Luis Valley and gave Spanish names to many of its natural features. American explorer <a href="/article/zebulon-montgomery-pike"><strong>Zebulon Pike</strong></a> encountered the Great Sand Dunes in January 1807 and described them as appearing exactly like “a sea in a storm.” In 1848 the expedition of <a href="/article/john-c-fremont"><strong>John Charles Frémont</strong></a> struggled over the dunes in search of a transcontinental railroad route while Capt. <a href="/article/john-w-gunnison"><strong>John Williams Gunnison</strong></a> led a similar expedition through the area in 1853. Famed frontier photographer <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-henry-jackson"><strong>William Henry Jackson</strong></a> took the first known photograph of the dunes in 1874 and described them as “a curious and very singular phase of nature’s freak.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Monumental Dunes</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Around 1870 the discovery of gold in the <a href="/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>, coupled with the subsequent arrival and expansion of the <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong>, brought an influx of miners, ranchers, farmers, and settlers into the San Luis Valley. Some of the new arrivals tried <a href="/article/homestead"><strong>homesteading</strong></a> near the Great Sand Dunes, where drifting sand and ceaseless winds frustrated efforts to raise cattle or crops. Meanwhile, gold seekers began staking claims in the Sangres.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the 1920s, the growing popularity of the Great Sand Dunes for recreation inspired San Luis Valley citizens to advocate for federal protection. The push for preservation accelerated in 1930 when local chapters of the PEO Sisterhood, concerned about attempts to mine gold from the dunes and the extraction of sand for use in concrete, launched a letter-writing campaign directed at local, state, and national politicians. Their efforts were rewarded on March 17, 1932, when President Herbert Hoover named the Great Sand Dunes as the nation’s thirty-sixth <strong>national monument</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Visitation grew steadily. Five hundred people came to the newly established monument in 1932; by 1962, the number of visitors had ballooned to nearly 93,000. Improvements to visitor infrastructure during this period included better roads, a new visitor center in 1961, and Pinyon Flats Campground in 1964. By 2004, visitation had increased to more than 267,000 annually.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Monument to Park</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1986 a plan by American Water Development Inc. (AWDI) to pump groundwater from the San Luis Valley to the growing cities of Colorado’s <a href="/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a> sparked an extended legal battle over water rights. Scientific data accumulated by the National Park Service (NPS) for the court case against AWDI indicated the presence of a much larger aeolian system that was responsible for the existence of the dunes, one that encompassed a series of distinct ecosystems stretching from the mineralized hardpan and vast sand sheet west of the main dunefield all the way to the crest of the Sangre de Cristos. More importantly, the data proved that the Great Sand Dunes were hydrologically connected to the San Luis Valley’s surface and groundwater. Most notably, the waters of Medano and Sand Creeks continually wash eroded sand out to the sand sheet, where prevailing winds blow it back to the dunes. Any threat to that water could result in negative impacts on the Great Sand Dunes.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>AWDI lost its legal battle to export the valley’s groundwater in 1991, but in 1995 Stockman’s Water Company launched another scheme to export the San Luis Valley’s water for profit. Like AWDI, Stockman’s encountered fierce opposition from local citizens and eventually abandoned its plans in 1998. In the aftermath of these threats to San Luis Valley water, resource management staff at the Great Sand Dunes—along with a coalition of concerned citizens, conservancy groups, NPS officials, and local, state, and federal politicians—concluded that the best way to ensure perpetual protection for the entire Great Sand Dunes ecosystem was to expand the boundaries of the protected area and designate it a national park.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Local hunters and outdoor advocacy groups initially objected to the plan, concerned that the new national park would prohibit the hunting of elk and bighorn sheep in the Rio Grande National Forest and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The solution was to establish a preserve in the Sangre de Cristos where hunting and other recreational activities would be permitted. The issue of private development around the dunes was addressed in 1999 when <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nature Conservancy</strong> purchased the sprawling <strong>Medano-Zapata Ranch</strong> to the south and west of the main dunefield, protecting it from development. The Nature Conservancy also began investigating the possibility of purchasing the enormous <strong>Baca Ranch</strong> to the north and west of the Great Sand Dunes, the site of earlier efforts to export groundwater from the San Luis Valley.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2000, after a long and bruising legislative battle, President Bill Clinton signed the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act. The act expanded the boundaries of the existing monument by nearly 70,000 acres and created a national preserve on roughly 42,000 acres in the Rio Grande National Forest. It also authorized the purchase of the Baca Ranch, though it would take another four years before The Nature Conservancy’s purchase satisfied the requirements of the bill. Finally, on September 13, 2004, Interior Secretary <strong>Gale Norton</strong> officially designated Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Combined, the new park and preserve encompassed 149,512 acres. Most critically, the surface and subsurface water resources of Baca Ranch were protected, ensuring that the entire aeolian system that created and maintained the Great Sand Dunes would remain intact and unimpaired for generations to come.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/geary-michael-m" hreflang="und">Geary, Michael M.</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/dunes-national-park" hreflang="en">Dunes National Park</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/great-sand-dunes-history" hreflang="en">great sand dunes history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/alamosa-county" hreflang="en">alamosa county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wetlands" hreflang="en">wetlands</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-sand-dunes" hreflang="en">colorado sand dunes</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sangre-de-cristo-mountains" hreflang="en">sangre de cristo mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/national-park-service" hreflang="en">national park service</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/great-sand-dunes-national-monument" hreflang="en">great sand dunes national monument</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Michael M. Geary, <em>Sea of Sand: A History of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dietmar Schneider-Hector, “Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes: The Making of a National Monument,” <em>Colorado History </em>15 (2008).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Libbie Landreth, “Natural History of the Great Sand Dunes,” <em>San Luis Valley Historian</em> 22, no. 3 (1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Richard F. Madole et al., “On the origin and age of the Great Sand Dunes,” <em>Geomorphology</em> 99 (2008).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charlie Meyers, “Bill no walk in the park for hunters,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, April 4, 2000.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Robert W. Ogburn, “A History of the Development of San Luis Valley Water,” <em>San Luis Valley Historian</em> 28, no. 1 (1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Erin Smith, “Sand Dunes park called key to water future,” <em>Pueblo Chieftain</em>, February 17, 2000.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Erin Smith, “The Nature Conservancy agrees to buy Baca Ranch,” <em>Pueblo Chieftain</em>, January 31, 2002.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Colorado.com Staff, "<a href="https://www.colorado.com/articles/colorado-scenic-byway-los-caminos-antiguos-great-sand-dunes-national-park">Colorado Scenic Byway: Los Caminos Antiguos &amp; Great Sand Dunes National Park</a>," Colorado Tourism, 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm">Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Scott McInnis, “Paying Tribute to the History of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve,” <em>Congressional Record</em> 150, no. 55 (April 27, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David Nicholas, “Great Sand Dunes becomes a national park: History made on September 13, 2004,” <em>Crestone Eagle</em>, October 2004.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Rocky Mountain PBS, <a href="https://video.rmpbs.org/video/2365603249/">"The San Luis Valley,"</a> <em>Colorado Experience</em>, November 12, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dietmar Schneider-Hector, “Great Sand Dunes Wilderness: Creating ‘The Very Highest Order of Federal Resource Protection’ for North America’s Tallest Inland Dunefield,” <em>Colorado Heritage</em> (September/October 2010).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 31 Mar 2017 22:17:15 +0000 yongli 2441 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Wetlands and Riparian Areas http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/wetlands-and-riparian-areas <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Wetlands and Riparian Areas</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1664--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1664.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/photographs-different-wetland-types-around-colorado"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Wetlands-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=op8eHXDQ" width="1090" height="1025" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/photographs-different-wetland-types-around-colorado" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Photographs of different wetland types around Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Photographs of different wetland types around Colorado: (1) riparian area, Moffat County; (2) riparian area along stream in Larimer County;&nbsp; (3) riparian area, Hinsdale County; Fen, Grand County; (4) salt flat, Alamosa County; (5) marsh and wet meadow, Washington County;&nbsp; (6) fen, Park County; (7) wet meadow, Boulder County; (8) sloping fen (foreground) and riparian area, Grand County (photo credits: All photos by D. Cooper, except photos 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8 by E. Gage).</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1668--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1668.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/wetland-area-colorado-county"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Wetlands-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=m63aXrBh" width="1000" height="857" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/wetland-area-colorado-county" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Wetland area by Colorado county</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Proportion of total county area mapped as wetlands by the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). Emergent wetlands are dominated by herbaceous plant species, shrub/scrub wetlands are dominated by shrubs, often willow (Salix spp.) species, while forested wetlands support trees.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1669--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1669.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/wetland-area-elevation-class"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Wetlands-Media-3_0.jpg?itok=V-HRuNcr" width="1000" height="667" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/wetland-area-elevation-class" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Wetland area by elevation class</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Wetland areas in Colorado across different elevation ranges, as mapped by the NWI program .</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 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'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-12T16:25:04-06:00" title="Friday, August 12, 2016 - 16:25" class="datetime">Fri, 08/12/2016 - 16:25</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/wetlands-and-riparian-areas" data-a2a-title="Wetlands and Riparian Areas"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fwetlands-and-riparian-areas&amp;title=Wetlands%20and%20Riparian%20Areas"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Wetlands are ecosystems that are at least periodically saturated or inundated by <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a>, creating unique habitats that support a wide variety of plant and animal species. Colorado wetlands include a diverse range of ecosystem types, each with distinctive plants and animals, hydrologic regimes, and ecological functions. In addition to providing habitat for wildlife and supporting biodiversity in other ecosystems, wetlands help filter water by trapping pollutants and offer a buffer zone for extreme events such as<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/flooding-colorado"><strong> flooding</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Types of Wetlands</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Wetlands in Colorado can be divided into five types: fens, marshes, wet meadows, riparian wetlands, and salt flats.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Fens have peat (undecomposed organic matter) soils and stable, groundwater-driven hydrologic regimes that limit the decomposition of organic matter. Vegetation is dominated by herbaceous plants such as sedges (<em>Carex </em>spp.), but mosses, shrubs, and trees can also grow. Fens commonly occur as part of wetland complexes that include riparian wetlands or wet meadows. Fens occur throughout Colorado in mountain valleys with higher precipitation and perennial inflow of groundwater from local aquifers. An especially significant site is High Creek Fen in South Park, now protected by the Nature Conservancy. The well-studied Big Meadows in <a href="/article/rocky-mountain-national-park"><strong>Rocky Mountain National Park</strong></a> is also a good example.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Wet meadows have mineral soils and are typically dominated by herbaceous plants. They are the most widespread wetland type in Colorado, occurring from the <a href="/article/colorado%E2%80%99s-great-plains"><strong>plains</strong></a> to the alpine. Wet meadows have seasonally saturated soils but lack the perennial high water tables of fens or the large water-level fluctuations of marshes. Some wet meadows are managed for hay production and frequently develop downslope of unlined <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/irrigation-colorado"><strong>irrigation</strong></a> canals in agricultural areas. They may also form as marshes or beaver ponds fill with sediment. Wet meadows commonly occur in intermediate landscape positions between fens or marshes and uplands. Wet meadows can be found throughout Colorado, but a good example is Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Marshes have mineral soils and highly variable hydrological regimes with deep standing water occurring for extended periods. This limits plants to species tolerant of inundation, and vegetation often exhibits distinct patterns related to differences in individual species’ tolerance of flooding. Water depth and salinity are key factors determining the species composition, both within and among marshes and from wet to dry years. Water chemistry is highly variable, and marshes formed in basins where water is lost primarily through evapotranspiration can be highly saline. Marshes are critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, and waterfowl groups have actively promoted their conservation and creation. Marshes occur from the plains to the alpine and include such diverse wetland types as the playa wetlands in southeast Colorado and the numerous marshes that fringe lakes and form in abandoned <a href="/article/beaver"><strong>beaver</strong></a> ponds in the mountains.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Salt flats are common at low elevations in intermountain basins, valleys, and on the plains. They can form in closed basins where water evaporates, leaving salts behind, often in sites with clay-rich soils. Plant cover and productivity is low, and communities are dominated by salt-tolerant species (halophytes). Notable salt flats occur in the southern part of South Park near Antero Reservoir—originally called “Valle Salado,” the salty bayou—as well as in the Blanca Wetlands of <a href="/article/alamosa-county"><strong>Alamosa County</strong></a>, but examples occur throughout the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Riparian ecosystems range from narrow communities along headwater streams in the mountains to broad alluvial rivers on the plains and western valleys. Riparian areas are influenced by unidirectional, flowing water capable of eroding and transporting sediment and are strongly shaped by the frequency, magnitude, and energy of floods. Differences in watershed size, topography, and climatic regime create varying flood regimes. Dominant riparian species include trees such as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cottonwood-trees"><strong>cottonwood</strong></a> (<em>Populus</em> spp.) and <strong>willows</strong> (<em>Salix</em> spp.). Major riparian areas in Colorado include the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cache-la-poudre-river"><strong>Cache la Poudre</strong></a>, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte</strong></a>, <a href="/article/colorado-river"><strong>Colorado</strong></a>, and <strong>Arkansas Rivers</strong>, but riparian communities occur along the state’s innumerable smaller streams as well.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ecosystem Services</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Wetlands occupy about 2 percent of Colorado’s land area, but they are key landscape elements because they provide critical ecosystem services. Wetlands filter water and trap pollutants, and because of their importance to water quality, most wetlands are regulated by the federal government under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. In agricultural and urban settings, wetlands can remove excess fertilizers that degrade water quality. Riparian areas may act to buffer hydrologic extremes such as floods and drought, provide habitat for wildlife, and contribute to local biodiversity by supporting the health of adjacent aquatic and upland ecosystems.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Physical Geography</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="/article/colorado-climate"><strong>Climate</strong></a>, geology, and hydrologic regime are key factors influencing the formation of wetlands and riparian ecosystems. The abundance and geographic distribution of wetlands varies among Colorado’s physiographic regions and along the state’s broad elevation gradients. Because mountains receive more precipitation and are cooler than basins and lowlands, there is more water to support wetland development. Wetlands increase in abundance with elevation up to the subalpine zone but are less abundant in the alpine zone. The distribution of individual wetland types is variable. For example, fens are rare at low elevations but relatively abundant at higher elevations, while the reverse is true for salt flats.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ecological Drivers</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Hydrologic processes control many wetland and riparian functions. For example, the establishment of many riparian plants is linked to the frequency and magnitude of flooding. In marshes, the depth and duration of inundation is a key control on species composition, while seasonal water table dynamics control carbon accumulation rates in fens.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>A wetland’s hydrologic regime affects nutrient cycling, plant productivity, decomposition, and the composition of <strong>plant communities</strong>. On a small scale the hydrologic regime operates as a driver of ecological structure and function, while on a broader scale it shapes patterns of wetland abundance and distribution. Wetlands can occur in basins or on slopes where there are seeps or springs capable of saturating soils, and different types of wetlands commonly co-occur as wetland complexes.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The distribution and ecology of wetlands differs between the tectonically active mountains and the inactive plains. For instance, many mountain wetlands occur in landforms produced by retreating Pleistocene <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/glaciers"><strong>glaciers</strong></a>. Floodplain ecosystems are dynamic, as demonstrated by the September 2013 <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/september-2013-floods"><strong>Front Range</strong></a><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/september-2013-floods"> </a><strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/september-2013-floods">floods</a>,</strong> which both destroyed riparian vegetation and created conditions for new riparian plant establishment.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Wetlands and riparian areas support a variety of plant species and community types found nowhere else in Colorado. They can be dominated by only a few clonal species or be species-rich. The critical role of wetlands for biodiversity stems in part from the functional diversity of wetlands. Colorado wetlands support numerous animal species, from obligate species such as beaver (<em>Castor canadensis</em>) to the numerous seasonal or occasional visitors such as migratory birds and amphibians that rely on wetlands for some portion of their life cycle.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Past, Present, and Future</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Since the arrival of Euro-American settlers, nearly half of Colorado wetlands have been lost due to factors such as drainage for agriculture, construction of dams, removal of beaver, the introduction of non-native species, and extensive livestock grazing. Altered <a href="/article/wildfire-colorado"><strong>fire</strong></a> regimes resulting from land use changes and fire suppression have also indirectly impacted wetlands.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Water storage, water diversion from streams, and riparian forest clearing have affected many riparian areas, especially along large rivers, and groundwater pumping for irrigation purposes has also affected wetlands. Other impacts stem from the alteration of stream channels and fluctuations in sediment production or transport. In addition, altered flood regimes, such as those produced by dams, can reduce opportunities for the establishment of native species and favor the spread of non-natives.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early Euro-Americans grazed sheep in many <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>high mountain ranges</strong></a>, impacts from which are still evident in some areas. Overgrazing by livestock or native ungulates such as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountain-elk"><strong>elk</strong></a> or <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/moose"><strong>moose</strong></a> can negatively impact wetlands and riparian areas, wildlife and fish habitat, and the regeneration of native plants.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><strong>Non-native species</strong> are a significant threat to many areas. For example, woody species like salt cedar (<em>Tamarix</em> <em>spp.</em>) and Russian-olive (<em>Elaeagnus angustifolia</em>) were introduced to North America from Europe and Asia and are highly invasive in riparian areas at lower elevations. Many non-native species respond positively to disturbance and are associated with roads and other disturbed environments.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Placer mining affected many mountain streams, such as those near <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/breckenridge-historic-district"><strong>Breckenridge</strong></a> and <a href="/article/fairplay"><strong>Fairplay</strong></a>, while wetlands along rivers at lower elevations have been impacted by sand and gravel mining. Hard rock mining has produced runoff contaminated with metals. Oil, natural gas, and coal extraction can alter wetlands through hydrological changes associated with roads and well pads.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Roads are commonly built along valley bottoms, and many streams have been channeled and the wetlands filled. Hydrologic function can also be impaired by culverts and ditches, which alter drainage patterns.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Wetlands and riparian areas are likely to experience significant changes in the future from climate change and human population growth. Shifts in the timing of precipitation, the proportion of precipitation occurring as rain versus <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snow</strong></a>, and changes in broad-scale weather phenomena like the Southwest monsoon will be especially important. Scientists continue to advance our understanding of how Colorado wetlands function and the factors influencing their condition. While federal regulations provide some protection for wetlands, wetlands remain vulnerable to human impacts. Efforts by wetland scientists and conservationists are underway to identify and preserve ecologically important wetlands and to develop improved techniques for restoring degraded ecosystems and the critical ecosystem services they provide.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/gage-edward" hreflang="und">Gage, Edward</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/cooper-david" hreflang="und">Cooper, David</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wetlands" hreflang="en">wetlands</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-wetlands" hreflang="en">colorado wetlands</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/water" hreflang="en">water</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ecosystems" hreflang="en">ecosystems</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/beaver" hreflang="en">beaver</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fens" hreflang="en">fens</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/marshes" hreflang="en">marshes</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wet-meadows" hreflang="en">wet meadows</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/riparian" hreflang="en">riparian</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/salt-flats" hreflang="en">salt flats</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/floods" hreflang="en">floods</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/blanca-wetlands" hreflang="en">blanca wetlands</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/south-park" hreflang="en">South Park</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>R. A. Chimner, J. M. Lemly, and David J. Cooper, “Mountain Fen Distribution, Types and Restoration Priorities, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA,” <em>Wetlands </em>30, no. 4 (2010).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David J. Cooper, “Ecology of Wetlands in Big Meadows, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado” (Washington, DC: US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David J. Cooper, “Water and Soil Chemistry, Floristics, and Phytosociology of the Extreme Rich High Creek Fen, in South Park, Colorado, USA,” <em>Canadian Journal of Botany</em> 74, no. 11 (1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David J. Cooper, D. C. Andersen, and R. A. Chimner, “Multiple Pathways for Woody Plant Establishment on Floodplains at Local to Regional Scales,” <em>Journal of Ecology </em>91 (2003).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>David J. Cooper, R. A. Chimner, and D. M. Merritt, “Western Mountain Wetlands," in <em>Wetland Habitats of North America Ecology and Conservation Concerns</em>, eds. Darold P. Batzer and Andrew H. Baldwin (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thomas E. Dahl, “Wetlands Losses in the United States, 1780s to 1980s” (Washington, DC: US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>E. A. Gage and David J. Cooper, “Historical Range of Variation Assessment for Wetland and Riparian Ecosystems, US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region” (Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>G. L. Katz, J. M. Friedman, and S. W. Beatty, “Delayed Effects of Flood Control on a Flood-Dependent Riparian Forest,” <em>Ecological Applications</em> 15, no. 3 (2005).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>W. J. Mitsch and J. G. Gosselink, <em>Wetlands</em> (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2007).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Virginia McConnell Simmons, “<a href="https://www.cozine.com:8443/2006-september/the-source-of-bayou-salado">The Source of Bayou Salado</a>,” letter, <em>Colorado Central Magazine</em>, September 1, 2006.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jeremy P. Sueltenfuss, David J. Cooper, Richard L. Knight, and Reagan M. Waskom, “The Creation and Maintenance of Wetland Ecosystems from Irrigation Canal and Reservoir Seepage in a Semi-Arid Landscape,” <em>Wetlands</em> 33, no. 5 (2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>T. C. Winter, “The Concept of Hydrologic Landscapes,” <em>Journal of the American Water Resources Association</em> 37 (2001).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p><a href="https://cnhp.colostate.edu/cwic/">Colorado Wetland Information Center</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Fish and Wildlife Service, <a href="http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/NWI/Index.html">National Wetlands Inventory</a></p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 12 Aug 2016 22:25:04 +0000 yongli 1661 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Beaver http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/beaver <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Beaver</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1546--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1546.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/north-american-beaver"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Beavers%20Media%201_0.jpg?itok=DsNa8-i_" width="688" height="344" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/north-american-beaver" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">North American Beaver</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The North American beaver (Castor canadensis), a keystone species in Colorado’s wetlands and waterways, has struggled to recover from excessive trapping during the nineteenth-century fur trade.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-01T14:28:41-06:00" title="Monday, August 1, 2016 - 14:28" class="datetime">Mon, 08/01/2016 - 14:28</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/beaver" data-a2a-title="Beaver"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fbeaver&amp;title=Beaver"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The North American beaver (<em>Castor canadensis</em>) is native to Colorado, and its role as both an environmental engineer and a keystone species has profoundly impacted the state’s ecology and history. Although their populations today are low, beavers continue to shape Colorado’s environments.</p> <h2>Ecology and Early History</h2> <p>Beavers are the largest rodents in North America, and the second largest in the world. On average, they weigh between forty and fifty pounds and measure about forty-eight inches in length. Active in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/wetlands-and-riparian-areas"><strong>riparian</strong></a> areas (near waterways), the semiaquatic animals have developed waterproof fur and flat, scaly tails that function as a rudder, help with balance on land, and act as a lever in dam construction.</p> <p>The most environmentally significant activity beavers do is create dams. They use their large teeth to cut down shrubs and trees, which they use as building material. Beavers form nuclear families, and several families live together in a colony. Working together, these colonies interweave materials, creating complex and watertight structures. Beavers are resourceful creatures, and their methods for creating dams vary depending on <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a> levels and available materials.</p> <p>Beaver dams create ponds with stable water levels that perform a variety of functions. According to wildlife resource scientist Dietland Müller-Schwarze, the beaver pond is a “highway, canal, lock … escape route, hiding place, vegetable garden, food storage facility, refrigerator/freezer, water storage tank, bathtub, swimming pool, and water toilet.” Not only do the ponds create a suitable habitat for beavers, but they help create and expand <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/wetlands-and-riparian-areas"><strong>wetlands</strong></a>, providing habitat for other water-loving animals. This is why beavers are regarded as a keystone species–a species that disproportionately affects its environment and alters its ecosystem.</p> <p>Prior to European settlement, an estimated 60 million beavers ranged across much of what became the United States and Canada. In Colorado, beavers could be found up to heights of 10,500 feet. Over thousands of years, beavers have aggraded small river valleys in North America, dramatically altering water systems and shaping ecology. Beavers were considered very important by many Native American cultures over the centuries. For example, the Comanche prized beaver pelts and tied strips of beaver skin to their braids.</p> <h2>Westward Expansion and the Fur Trade</h2> <p>Together, beavers’ warm fur and Europeans’ fashion tastes spurred a demand for beaver pelts that lasted from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. With the destruction of beaver populations in eastern North America and the American acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the search for new beaver trapping grounds lured trappers westward to Colorado.</p> <p>The <strong>Rocky Mountains </strong>proved a bonanza for the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fur-trade-colorado"><strong>fur trade</strong></a> from 1822 to 1840. Mountain men, the name given to trappers in the Rocky Mountains, explored much of what was to become northern Colorado over the course of the 1830s and 1840s in search of beavers. As the 1830s progressed, and as beaver populations declined in other areas, the Colorado Rockies became the second-most-important trapping ground for the fur trade. Trappers and traders also became some of the first Europeans and Americans to settle in Colorado, driven by the abundance of beaver. By 1837, fur <a href="/article/nineteenth-century-trading-posts"><strong>trading posts</strong></a> had been established all along the Colorado Piedmont. Beavers thus played a large role in opening Colorado to white settlement and exploration.</p> <p>In 1840, mountain man Robert Newell declared the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains dead. The destruction of beaver populations throughout the Rockies, as well as domestic economic instability and global changes in fashion, had brought an end to the economic productivity of the trade. However, it was not until 1900 that Colorado lawmakers decided to restore the drastically low numbers of beavers in the state. State legislation then began to restrict beaver trapping to specific seasons.</p> <h2>Today</h2> <p>Beavers are still a rare sight in Colorado and have never fully recovered from their nineteenth-century depletion, even declining in many areas since the 1940s. In <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountain-national-park"><strong>Rocky Mountain National Park</strong></a><strong>,</strong> beavers inhabit only 10 percent of suitable habitat. There are numerous reasons for this. Beavers are widely considered to be an inconvenience rather than an environmentally essential species. Even though the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade ended in the nineteenth century, beaver hunting has persisted, albeit on a much smaller scale. Under Colorado State Law, so-called nuisance beavers that cause damage to property can be killed or hunted. There is no limit on the number of beavers an individual can bag during the hunting season.</p> <p>Lack of adequate riparian plant life, such as willows, in Colorado is also a major factor in the stagnation of beaver populations. These plants are both essential food resources for beavers and greatly benefit from the stable water levels engineered by beavers. Rising populations of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountain-elk"><strong>elk</strong></a> and cattle in riparian areas over the last century have led to increased grazing, which in turn has stunted the growth of riparian plants. Limiting elk and cattle grazing has been proposed as a solution to low beaver populations.</p> <p>Current Rocky Mountain National Park conservation and wildlife management plans do not directly focus on beavers. However, officials have taken beavers into consideration in the park’s “Elk and Vegetation Management Plan” of 2007. The plan states that once willow vegetation has resurged, natural recolonization of beavers may occur. The twenty-year plan also proposes that if natural recolonization does not happen, then reintroduction would be considered. This, however, has yet to happen, rendering the future of beavers in Colorado uncertain.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/reeve-holly" hreflang="und">Reeve, Holly</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/beaver" hreflang="en">beaver</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wetlands" hreflang="en">wetlands</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fur-trade" hreflang="en">fur trade</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/north-american-beaver" hreflang="en">north american beaver</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/trapper" hreflang="en">trapper</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Colorado Parks and Wildlife, “<a href="https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlifeBeaver.aspx">Beaver Problems</a>,” Press Release, June 29, 2000.</p> <p>Colorado Parks and Wildlife, “<a href="https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/WildlifeSpecies/LivingWithWildlife/NuisanceWildlife.pdf">Nuisance Wildlife Laws in Colorado</a>,” updated June 2015.</p> <p>Colorado Parks and Wildlife, “<a href="https://nocopf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SmallGame.compressed.pdf">2015 Colorado Small Game</a>.”</p> <p>Eric Jay Dolin, <em>Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America</em> (New York: W. W. Norton, 2011).</p> <p>Ben Goldfarb, “<a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/47.19/the-beaver-whisperer">The Beaver Whisperer</a>,” <em>High Country News</em>, November 9, 2015,.</p> <p>Fred R. Gowans<em>, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous: A History of the Fur Trade Rendezvous, 1825–1840</em> (Layton: G.M. Smith / Peregrine Smith Books, 1985).</p> <p>Keith G. Hay, “Succession of Beaver Ponds in Colorado 50 Years After Beaver Removal,” <em>Journal of Wildlife Management </em>74, no. 8 (2010).</p> <p>Helge Ingstad, <em>The Apache Indians: In Search of the Missing Tribe</em> (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).</p> <p>La Plata County, Colorado, “<a href="https://www.co.laplata.co.us/local_resources/agriculture/living_with_wildlife/living_with_beavers">Living with Beavers,</a>” n.d.</p> <p>Dietland Müller-Schwarze, <em>Beaver: Its Life and Impact,</em> 2nd ed. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011).</p> <p>National Park Service, “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/beavers.htm">Beavers</a>,” n.d.</p> <p>National Park Service, “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/management/elkveg_fact_sheet.htm">Elk and Vegetation Management Plan Fact Sheet</a>,” updated August 2015.</p> <p>National Park Service, “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/management/upload/rod_evmp_signed_2-15-08.pdf">Final Environmental Impact Statement: Elk and Vegetation Management Plan</a>,” February 15, 2008.</p> <p>D. J. Wishart, <em>The Fur Trade of the American West, 1807-1840: A Geographical Synthesis</em> (London: Croom Helm, 1979).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Don J. Neff, “A Seventy Year History of a Colorado Beaver Colony,” <em>Journal of Mammalogy</em> 40, no. 3 (1959).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>The North American beaver is native to Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ecology and Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers are the largest rodents in North America. Beavers weigh between forty and fifty pounds. They are about forty-eight inches long. Beavers have developed waterproof fur and flat tails.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers build dams. They use their large teeth to cut down shrubs and trees. Those plants become building material.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers form families. Families live in a colony. The colonies work together to create dams.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beaver dams help make ponds. The ponds are a home for beavers. They also help create wetlands where other animals live.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Westward Expansion and the Fur Trade</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers’ warm fur created a demand for pelts. That lasted from the mid-1500's to the mid-1800's. In the 1830s, Colorado became an important trapping ground.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The destruction of beaver populations brought an end to the trade.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The number of beavers remains low. There are several reasons. Many people consider beavers to be a nuisance. Beavers that damage property can be killed.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lack of willow trees is another reason for the decline of beavers. These plants are an important source of food.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>If there are more willows, the beaver population may grow. Until then, the future of beavers in Colorado is uncertain.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is native to Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ecology and Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers are the largest rodents in North America. The average beaver weighs between forty and fifty pounds. They are about forty-eight inches long. Beavers have developed waterproof fur and flat and scaly tails.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The most significant activity beavers do is create dams. They use their large teeth to cut down shrubs and trees, which they use as building material.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beaver dams create ponds that perform a variety of functions. Beaver ponds can be highways, hiding places, food storage, and bathtubs. They help create and expand wetlands, providing habitat for other animals.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Before European settlement, an estimated 60 million beavers lived in North America. In Colorado, beavers could be found up to heights of 10,500 feet.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Westward Expansion and the Fur Trade</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers’ warm fur and Europeans’ fashion tastes spurred a demand for pelts that lasted from the mid-1500's to the mid-1800's. With the destruction of beaver populations in eastern North America, trappers moved west.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky Mountains proved a bonanza for the fur trade from 1822 to 1840. Trappers explored much of what was to become northern Colorado in search of beavers. In the 1830s, the Colorado Rockies became the second-most-important trapping ground. By 1837, fur trading posts were all along the Colorado Piedmont.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1840, the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains was declared dead. The destruction of beaver populations and changes in fashion brought an end to the trade.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The beaver population has never fully recovered. There are several reasons for this. Many people consider beavers to be a nuisance. Under Colorado State Law, beavers that damage property can be killed.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lack of plant life, such as willows, is a major factor in the decline of the beaver population. These plants are essential food for beavers. Rising populations of elk and cattle have led to increased grazing, which has stunted willow growth.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Current conservation and wildlife management plans do not focus on beavers. Experts believe once willow vegetation has returned, the beaver population may grow. If that doesn't happen, beavers may be reintroduced. However, until that happens, the future of beavers in Colorado is uncertain.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is native to Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ecology and Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers are the largest rodents in North America, and the second largest in the world. The average beaver weighs between forty and fifty pounds and measures about forty-eight inches in length. Active in riparian areas (near waterways), the semi aquatic animals have developed waterproof fur and flat and scaly tails that function as a rudder.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The most environmentally significant activity beavers do is create dams. They use their large teeth to cut down shrubs and trees, which they use as building material. Beavers form nuclear families, and several families live together in a colony.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beaver dams create ponds with stable water levels that perform a variety of functions. Beaver ponds can be highways, hiding places, vegetable gardens, food storage, refrigerator/freezers, water storage tanks, bathtubs, swimming pools, and toilets. They help create and expand wetlands, providing habitat for other animals.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Prior to European settlement, an estimated 60 million beavers lived in North America. In Colorado, beavers could be found up to heights of 10,500 feet.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Westward Expansion and the Fur Trade</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beavers’ warm fur and Europeans’ fashion tastes spurred a demand for pelts that lasted from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. With the destruction of beaver populations in eastern North America, the search for new beaver trapping grounds lured trappers westward to Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Rocky Mountains proved a bonanza for the fur trade from 1822 to 1840. Trappers explored much of what was to become northern Colorado over the course of the 1830s and 1840s in search of beavers. As the 1830s progressed, the Colorado Rockies became the second-most-important trapping ground for the fur trade. By 1837, fur trading posts had been established all along the Colorado Piedmont.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1840, mountain man Robert Newell declared the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains dead. The destruction of beaver populations throughout the Rockies, as well as changes in fashion, brought an end to the trade. However, it was not until 1900 that Colorado lawmakers decided to restore the drastically low numbers of beavers. State legislation began to restrict beaver trapping to specific seasons.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Beaver populations have never fully recovered. In Rocky Mountain National Park, beavers inhabit only 10 percent of suitable habitat. There are numerous reasons for this. Beavers are widely considered to be an inconvenience rather than essential. Under Colorado State Law, beavers that cause damage to property can be killed.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lack of adequate riparian plant life, such as willows, is also a major factor in the decline of the beaver population. These plants are essential food for beavers. Rising populations of elk and cattle have led to increased grazing, which in turn has stunted the growth of riparian plants.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Current conservation and wildlife management plans at Rocky Mountain National Park do not focus on beavers, but do address issues created by elk in the 2007 "Elk and Vegetation Management Plan". Experts believe once willow vegetation has returned, the beaver population may increase. If that doesn't happen, reintroduction may be considered. This has yet to happen, leaving the future of beavers in Colorado uncertain.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 01 Aug 2016 20:28:41 +0000 yongli 1544 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org