A couple from today.

Abies concolor

That'll be great to browse around sluice. Colorado does great landscaping projects for the folks from all the stuff you've shown us.

Nice soil there too btw.

Dax

Thanks for sharing this.
Any chance you can give them a few recommendations?

Josh

Interesting idea.

What's happened to that hill in the background in the latest pair of pics?? And why has all the grass suddenly died?

Resin

Um, don't think the grass is exactly 'dead' it looks the same as the grass around here... Winter time grass. =) Ugly, but still winter time grass heh not the prettiest to see. It'll come back green next spring. =P

~Tina

Dax, yeah it'll be fun to watch, and I'll post updates from time to time.

Josh, hmm, that's an tempting thought, I do have some ideas...

Resin, the earlier pics were taken during the summer. Forgot to mention that part.
I included them to show how the area looked prior to construction.
The hill now has a dusting of snow, and if the forecast is accurate should have more soon.

Tina, you must have the same grass we do. Turns brown in the winter, especially the grass in the fields.
Lawn grass might stay green a little longer, and irrigation plays a factor too.

Here's a few more from today.

Pinus nigra

Abies concolor

Yes, it will be fun to watch the progress.
I hope they plant a wide assortment of trees.
That's a lot more sky than I'm used to seeing, living here in a temperate rain forest.
The basalt butte in the background looks similar to the one I lived on near Spokane, WA.
Resin is accustomed to green grass in the winter, like we have here on the west side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.
Mike

At least you see grass at all over winter. In upstate NY we have 1-2 ft of snow from December to March with small dwarf conifers not showing.
Some people build houses just at the end of the steady slopes from that butte, seems that erosion from the top must be people-friendly. Bernd

'Tina, you must have the same grass we do. Turns brown in the winter, especially the grass in the fields.
Lawn grass might stay green a little longer, and irrigation plays a factor too.'

Yeah Sluice,

The hills and prairies out here look much like the ones in your pictures. Brown. LoL Except for the evergreens of course! =)

~Tina

Colorado is a great state for just about anything you want to do.

Sluice...you should be so lucky.

That butte, some call it a hill, is a great back ground for the new park.

The granite boulders weigh a ton. I considered using those in my garden but common sense took over and nixed that idea.

All and all a beautiful setting. A well thought out plan and by the look of the finished work great workmanship by those involved in the project.

Sluice...where does the funding come from for the development of this park?

Dave

Perhaps its private, but if not those are well spent tax dollars. Looks great.

Yeah, I only know grass as an evergreen, not met deciduous grasses in lawns before. Must be boring, why plant it? Are evergreen species like ryegrass really not hardy there?

Snow already, that's much too early for sanity!

Can't see it being anything other than tax dollars - the cost of collecting an entry fee to pay off private investment would be so high that no-one would use the place in an area where access to free countryside must be fairly easy.

Resin

Resin, ryegrass needs sufficient rainfall to survive. I don't think it rains enough in Colorado. Perennial rye grass looks awesome during the winter here in Texas but unfortunately, it can't handle hot summer.

Mike, I hope they plant a variety of trees too.

Bernd, yep here we get snow and then it melts within a few days.

Tina, I imagine there's a lot of similarities between South Dakota and Colorado. I hope to visit the Black Hills someday and check out those spruce.

Dave, Will, and Resin, here's my layman's understanding of how the funding works for some of these parks.
Originally the developer owns the land and wants to build a subdivision. So they go to the city for the permits.
As part of that process, there's an agreement with the city that the developer sets aside a portion of the land for the public, along with funds to improve that portion.
So, the funding is from the developer (who likely builds that cost into the home sale price), and I suspect it's required by the city (sort of a mini local tax).

Resin and Lou, not much if any of our grass here is evergreen, it seems.

We did get the snow!
Today, Nov. 3

Sluice,

Come on out! You would love it, we have Bear Butte not too far away, Needles highway, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, I can see the foothills of the Black Hills from my window. It's gorgeous here. I love living here. Even with the dry grasses of the prairie. ;)

Resin, most of the grass you see in those photos is actually natives. You see, they require far less water. So many of us just let the natives grow. It saves on water! lol Our lawn in our yard will be seed lawn for shade and sun but up on the buttes and the hills & prairies we don't seed them, nature does that for us. That's all good though, deer tend to stay to those, versus our yards. I have had a small herd tromp through my backyard but only in passing. I've never had them munch anything yet... With yet being the key here. We've also had a large cat through our neighborhood too. Only saw paw prints left behind, not the actual cat.

I'll try and dig up a few photos of the local area for you guys. Hopefully I have some on this pc! =)

~Tina

Well,

I found one picture on this pc worth sharing. I know I have others on a portable drive. I'll go through it when I get time. Currently, if you read my other post you know my situation. Packing, readying for a trip.

So, here's a picture taken from the deck off the back of my house as the sun was setting this faces E SE off the house. My home is situated between two ridges that run through the Black Hills. One ridge isn't very long, but protects from some of the worst storms, the other ridge runs through quite far running along I-90.

On the left hand side of the image, you can see on the bottom half of the pines where they are thinned out. This is from a fire that ran across the back side of the ridge. A propane tank blew at a home located on the right hand side, about a mile down the ridge. It burned quite a bit of land and trees, about 5 years ago. Trees still have not fully recovered from this, those that will anyway. We still have sticks(dead trees) standing on the ridge. As well as tons of bare spots on the sides and top of the ridge. Which is very disappointing. However, It isn't State land, so they won't go in and clear it, nor will whomever owns it. It is ugly. But this particular spot I photographed isn't so bad. =)
As you can see, dead looking grass! lol It's all over, every fall it does this, but it comes back every spring.

"Resin, most of the grass you see in those photos is actually natives. You see, they require far less water"

Both excellent reasons for using them! I guess I knew that some grasses die back for the winter, but seeing photos of a big expanse of them looks odd!

"We still have sticks(dead trees) standing on the ridge. .... Which is very disappointing"

Though also very good for woodpeckers and other wildlife that uses dead wood!

Resin

Thanks for the pic Tina! Looks like beautiful country. Wishing the best for your mom and family.