Prairie

In the rain shadow of The Rocky Mountains, the eastern half of Colorado is shortgrass prairie. With only about 2% of the Great Plains intact, North America's grasslands are a shadow of the wild that once roamed here; yet pockets of still-functioning prairie remain. Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is a special place on the edge of Denver, a laboratory for school kids and adults seeking refuge from city life, a development site for prairie wildlife, and foundational for my shortgrass photography and Prairie Thunder (2007) book. Where there's good grass, wild remains in these Great Plains.