This region of Colorado, maybe an hour's drive from where this was taken, is where Chronic Wasting Disease was first detected. Our Cervidae species naturally change their elevation based on seasonal habitat availability. They go into the Rockies during high summer when they can forage without snow and retreat to the front range when it's too cold to survive any higher.
The front range was immediately colonised by cattle ranchers and farmers. The ecocide of the bison degraded that land on top of industrial agriculture's impact, as their foraging patterns are different. Between fencing, irresponsible hunting, calorie loss, wildfire/water policy, and the urban development of the front range/foothills the Cervidae were concentrated in the least desirable pieces of high elevation land. Their most genetically healthy were killed for trophies while the isolated breeding pools created what will be dementia covid at some point. CWD is the most horrifying disease I know of and it comes from denying habitat.
I like that this city-managed natural area manages to balance habitat with accessible low-impact hiking. It has a tremendous number of birds and insects. The native grasses are healthy despite recent heatwaves, so the deer and elk can actually seasonally migrate to quality grazing land. It was full of currants and dozens of our 946 native bee species and dead trees pockmarked by woodpeckers. If we had just done this from the start, the world would have been spared The Big One.
