Pawnee Buttes

by Ben Prepelka

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Pawnee Buttes

Artist

Ben Prepelka

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Description

America's Dakota states appear to have a lock on America's most famous badland areas protected by four national parks. The White River Badlands (White River Group), not necessarily a familiar travel destination, cover a broad area within the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, as well as South Dakota. These extensive badlands, blanketed in short grass and a jumble of eroded canyons and rivulets, are found in large patches east of the Rocky Mountains.
Although the thoughts of Colorado are directly connected to the majestic Rocky Mountains, the eastern plains take in nearly a third of the state and are represented in this view of Pawnee Buttes. Here these twin landforms rise up 300 feet from the rumpled Colorado plains. The White River Badland buttes are part of the Brule formation, found to be loaded with age old fossils. Early settlers called this region the Great American Desert. Today, the 300,000 acre Pawnee Buttes National Grassland has been rediscovered and found full of wildlife. Birders may find an impressive variety of resident birds, notably bobolinks, grasshopper sparrows, upland sandpipers, greater prairie-chickens, and Bell's vireos. Dominated by native grassland and riparian habitats, the most visible prairie wildlife species include mule deer, white-tailed deer and pronghorn. Smaller mammals, including native mice, voles, moles, gophers, ground squirrels and prairie dogs, dominate the foothills. Hawks, kites, eagles, coyotes, swift foxes, and badgers keep these grassland rodents in check.

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September 9th, 2023

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