A horse and mule move through the heat and sun
Along the dry desert sands below the deep blue sky
Waiting and watching nearby on some cacti trees
Sit red-tailed hawks smaller birds and a elf owl
And close by in the heat wait mule deer and bighorn sheep
Willows and cottonwoods begin to appear in the sandy nurseries
For here in the desert — horses and mules enter to dig wells
Dug by earth’s special creatures down to 6 feet deep
Groundwater for wildlife the bounty of nature’s engineers
Ancient times taught the horses, the mules to create the wells
Nature's gift, dear God mankind, we need to allow these creatures to be free
As described in a paper published April 29 in the journal Science, the animals use their hooves to dig more than six feet deep to reach groundwater for themselves, in turn creating oases that serve as a boon to wildlife
Categories:
bighorn sheep, blessing, horse,
Form: Narrative
Aspen, ponderosa pine, blue spruce
pink glacier-cut rock, scree, ravens
gray jay, peregrine falcon, hawk.
We climb to 11,000 feet in three days,
camp at Lawn Lake for three days. Alpine
tundra. Elk, bighorn sheep, marmot.
Tileston Meadows, ticks in grass,
rock face of Mummy Mountain.
Binoculars show pink cracks in gray rock.
Stoke gas stoves, play cards.
Boil water, set up tarps, lay out
sleeping bags, hang bear bag.
Watch crescent moon slice into
Fairchild Mountain. Moonlight
makes a mosque of the rocks.
Yellow aspen splash in dark green
spruce and pine. Gullies where streams
slash during spring snowmelt.
One rock, feather or flower worth
more than money. Need no wallet,
keys. Just clothes for fur.
All day climb toward saddle to see
what's on other side. One hawk floating
among bare peaks and over valleys.
Wind at 13,000 feet
turns to sleet. Turn back from peak,
take boulders two at a time down.
Winter moves into mountains.
Then we fly from Denver to New York
where it's still summer.
Categories:
bighorn sheep, blue, clothes, flower, mountains,
Form: Verse
The Endangered Species Act
referred to as The ESA
is currently having problems
that may not go away.
Several species of wildlife
many a beautiful beast
Could very well become extinct
they're endangered to say the least!
Culprits, don't really seem to care
but they're at fault it's true
Oil Companies, Loggers, Special Interest Groups
just to name a few!
Global warming destroys their habitat,
their ability to hunt and such
Urban and Agricultural development
also don't help that much.
The aforementioned culprits and others
have undermined the ESA.
Some endangered species were left off the list,
"conveniently" needless to say!
The Grizzly Bear and Bighorn Sheep,
the Jaguar and Whooping Crane,
the Black Footed Ferret and Canada Lynx
are some that I can name.
All these animals are quite unique,
there's really quite an array.
So we all gotta do whatever we can
to support the ESA.
Categories:
bighorn sheep, animals
Form: Rhyme