by Walter Perch
In a little gully at the base of the red rocks, a grove of spruce, fir and pine trees grow. A secret creek runs down from above – flash fed from storms and nurtured with multi-day drizzle.
Hundreds, if not thousands of years old, the grove has seen a variety of animal traffic and humans. With cougars, deer, avian species and insects, this grove is a bio-region of life. Birds dart through the summer sun from branch to branch. Still they sit, making their calls. In shallow pools water bugs gather near grass shoots, darting around on their tiny legs.