CREEK COMMUNITY
Born of snow melt and rain, Fountain Creek drains the surrounding
heights
and journeys to the open sea.
It tumbles sluggishly through dry times
but swells and plunges thunderously with the surplus of storms.
Change is the creek's constant companion. Life in its currents must adapt
to meandering edges, varying flow rates, shifting bottom sands and the disrupting
effects of human misuse.
Fountain Creek's sandy bed and once intermittent flow have suppressed aquatic
life. Though little diversity lingers in these waters, its shores reveal
overlapping tracks of the birds and mammals that come to drink from its
sustaining flow. Life cannot flourish without water, but where it beckons,
predators lurk.
The creek is the life blood of the entire system. Ironically its waters,
cool and oxygen rich as they tumble from surrounding heights, hold little
diversity as they flow across the plains. Its sandy bed and once intermittent
flow have limited insect life, restricted plant growth, and halted the increase
of aquatic animals that depend on these basic food resources.
Though lacking biological complexity in its midst, the creek does attract
and support diverse populations of animals. Mallards and Green-winged Teal
seek the protection of its sandbars, Killdeer and sandpipers gather food
from its shores, Snipe probe its silty bends, and Muskrats seek new territories
along this liquid highway.
