For my latest proposal, I flew out of Indianapolis Airport (more of a drive but much cheaper than Louisville,Ky) to Denver, Co. My final destination was Aurora Co. a suburb east of Denver.
Here is a shot I took during the flight.
This is the Aurora Municipal Building where I am to give my proposal. There are three other finalists besides myself. They were Arlene Slavin, Evelyn Rosenberg and Dowe Blumberg who is a fellow Kentuckian, located in Northern Kentucky. Just outside the Municipal Building is a sculptor installing his work. No idea who he is, need to find out so I can post his name
The competition was for a sculpture to go on the grounds of the Star K Ranch which,while in former days was a ranch, is now basically parkland with walking trails. We were supplied a list of native animals and in researching the various species for a likely candidate for creating into a sculpture, I discovered the ecological importance of the black-tailed Prairie Dog.
Prairie Dogs are considered keystone species because they alter the shortgrass plains by keeping grass and weeds clipped in their towns. This serves to increase the nitrogen uptake and makes the vegetation higher in protein. Numerous animals utilize the prairie dog towns those who graze on the vegetation, those to eat prairie dogs and smaller animals who use abandoned borrows for shelter.
This is my proposal, entitled the Prairie Portal. It is an archway of Indiana Limestone with various species carved upon the faces of the stone. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog is on the keystone, of course. On top of the arch stands a coyote, looking down. It is not apparent why a coyote would be standing on top of an arch until you step inside....
This is a cutaway showing the inside view of the arch. A recreation of a Prairie Dog burrow. Theburrow leads further down which symbolizes another important aspect of the Prairie Dog - their towns are known as macropores and promote the rapid transit of water through the soil. The process is known as short circuit bypass flow and allows water to move quickly past the root zone into the water table. My sources for research are Munn,L.C.,1993 The effects of Prairie Dogs on the physical and chemical properties of soils ; Outwater,A Water, a Natural History ( a really interesting book) and Daniel W. Uresks 2007 Prairie Dogs, An ecological review and current biopolitics. The black-tailed prairie dog has been removed from 98% of it's original range. The western states have been having a drought for years. Makes me wonder how much of a role removing prairie dogs has had on the environment.
The view from inside the portal. While I really enjoyed doing the research for this job (kind of fed the closet biologist in me) ultimately I did not get the job. Darn! It went to Douwe Blumberg who will be doing 12 horses in steel (the ranch also has riding trails). I hoped I could educate people about the importance of the black-tailed prairie dog - I didn't know any of this stuff until I started reading. At least I educated the committee , a little. Ah well can't win them all,but I did get to fly to Colorado, and while I'm here.... well, you'll see in the next post.
