Photo attached is of a small pond in the Roosevelt National Forest near my home. Pond location is approximately 6 miles NE of the small mountain village of Red Feather Lakes, CO. Photos are taken facing South. I attempted to take the picture yesterday from as similar a vantage point as possible. This is NOT a spring-fed pond and it has varied in size and depth over my 34 years of observations, depending on rain and snowfall over the prior winter(s) and spring(s), but has been used for decades fairly dependably as a livestock watering hole for up to 250 cow/calf pairs. Thirty years ago (before cattle grazing!), I swam across and measured the maximum depth at 8 feet. Ten or so years ago, the pond was so large that a massive ponderosa pine far beyond the water extent shown in the 2010 photo drowned after water stood several feet up its trunk for an extended period. Occasionally in more recent years, the pond has gone dry by summer's end and three months use by the cattle. This situation has gradually worsened and the pond has now been continuously dry for approximately 18 continuous months, long enough that foliage has grown in to cover the bare "mud" bottom. This spring, that foliage was green for a brief period. It is now yellow, either dormant or dead. Although not as pronounced, I believe some of the trees along the south horizon can be seen to be bearing thinner foliage, even though they are two years older. Cocorahs station number: CO-LR-329. Photo taken on 9/3/12.
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