Kevin Cook: Wildlife Window Nature Series

Colography: The Nitty-Gritty Colorado

Properly defined, “geography” means “the documentation of Earth.” Extending this concept gives us “Colography,” the “documentation of Colorado.” Our state sprawls across three great geologic regions blending characters from each. So how many mountain ranges do we have? How many parks do we have, and what is a “park,” anyway? Where are these landscape features and how did they get there? How many cactuses and orchids, owls and hummingbirds — how much life — garnish the landscapes with distinctive lifescapes? “Colography: The Nitty-Gritty Colorado” examines physical and biotic details of the state we call home, all done with a mind for experiencing it.

September: Federal Lands and Their Scapes
Congress originally didn’t want the federal government to own land, but the country’s size exceeded the people who could settle it. Through many decades Congress formed agencies to oversee public lands that came to be known as national forests, national parks, and national wildlife refuges.