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<br />cling systems. Nutrients are drawn up <br />from the roots into the leaves; then <br />when a leaf is ready to die, the nutri- <br />ents it contains go back into the roots <br />to be recycled into new leaves. <br />Because they occur in valleys <br />surrounded by spruce and pine forests <br />that produce little forage, these peat- <br />lands and their evergreen sedges can <br />provide deer and elk with an impor- <br />tant source of food. They are also <br />home to high.country amphibians like <br />chorus frogs and boreal toads-not to <br />mention damsel nies, maynies and <br />mosquitoes. <br />Peatlands like Big Meadows <br />purify the water that nows through <br />them. orten you will find a peatland <br />sitting in the middle of a valley's <br />watershed. Water fillers through the <br />peat and can be cleaned of metals and <br />other contaminants. <br /> <br />The other type of peat ecosys- <br />tem, the rich fen, is very rare in <br />Colorado; only about six examples <br />have been found. Rich fens are <br />formed when water nows over lime- <br />stone or dolomite rocks, such as those <br />found in the Mosquito Range above <br />South Park. These rocks are rich in <br />calcium carbonate and other salts, <br />and they release these <br />substances into the <br />water, giving it a high <br />pH (alkaline), rather <br />than a low pH (acidic). <br />These fens support calci- <br />phytes ("calcium-plants") <br />that occur only in this <br />kind of peatland. <br />South Park's High <br />Creek Fen is home to a <br />dozen plants-including <br />pale blue-eyed <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />~" <br /> <br />j <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />\ <br /> <br /> <br />"~':::"(;I"~' :::t-'l... ,'..,' \ .' " , I' I,"'., '(~~..?:i',-t, <br />~!{.j,.<~.G,;"tii.' ''!....'''. :!;..'<:).:' "_.'I'f.',:~"'; '.' '<1/' ,;.'t"t..l.!!;'~it., .~.J,.~'.:lii . ,." .1;~,IM~ <br />~IJ..M. <flk'i'I~,,*\.,~~n \'^ ., ''', '\"" .."~. c' ", '. '.~' . i~. ~m-W: <br />~'t\:"~.'~."'... ~.~~i.~."."~.,)'''''~' .H~" \ \ i," ;:.i;'.'I:""(.~.vk~~~.': <br />"';'''',;,''#.:~Yi't .\~ \ ":;'1"0-".,' "if..i1,~#'i <br />bK .$:'\h:;iotW.' ~ . I ' , (, ..:....i j"-,, : ...!!I't.l1! <br /> <br />(v1 <br />I U,vtJ <br />, i ~j1~ <br />I , ~1.1~..1.P <br />"V <br />t... <br />"II, <br /> <br />grass and Greenland primrose-most <br />of which are common in Canada but <br />rare in Colorado and the rest of the <br />continental United States. The 715- <br />acre fen and another approximately <br /> <br />500 acres surrounding it are owned <br />and managed hy the Colorado <br />Program ofThe Nature Conservancy. <br /> <br />17 <br /> <br /> <br />.~. .. <br />.. ,J;-" ". ~ J <br />~~ - ,'. ' <br /> <br />