Mosca Pass
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Mosca Pass
Mosca Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass in Alamosa and Huerfano counties in the Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado. The pass lies on the eastern border of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve about 40 miles west of Walsenburg, Colorado. It marks the boundary between the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve to the west and San Isabel National Forest to the east, and it also lies on the border between Alamosa and Huerfano counties. Mosca Pass Trail, which starts near the Great Sand Dunes National Park visitor center and is impassable to vehicles, lies on the west side of the pass, and Forest Road 580 begins and heads east from the top of the pass, becoming County Road 580 after passing the national forest boundary. The terrain is a mix of montane meadows, ponderosa pine woodlands, and Douglas-fir forest. The pass was previously traversed by the former Colorado State Highway 150. Mosca Pass was named for Luis de Moscoso Alvarado Luis de Moscoso Alvarado (1 ...
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Alamosa County, Colorado
Alamosa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 16,376. The county seat is Alamosa, Colorado, Alamosa. The county name is the Spanish language word for a "Grove (nature), grove of Populus sect. Aigeiros, cottonwood trees." History Alamosa County was created by the Colorado legislature on March 8, 1913, out of northwestern Costilla County, Colorado, Costilla County. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water. Adjacent counties *Saguache County, Colorado - north *Huerfano County, Colorado - east *Costilla County, Colorado - southeast *Conejos County, Colorado - southwest *Rio Grande County, Colorado - west Major Highways * U.S. Highway 160 (Colorado), U.S. Highway 160 * U.S. Highway 285 (Colorado), U.S. Highway 285 * Colorado State Highway 17, State Highway 17 * Colorado State Highway 150, State Highway 150 * Col ...
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Pinus Ponderosa
''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.Safford, H.D. 2013. Natural Range of Variation (NRV) for yellow pine and mixed conifer forests in the bioregional assessment area, including the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades, and Modoc and Inyo National Forests. Unpublished report. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, Vallejo, CA/ref> ''Pinus ponderosa'' grows in various erect forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U.S. states and has been successfully introduced in temperate regions of Europe, and in New Zealand. It was first documented in modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane (of which it is the official city tree). On that occasion, David Douglas misidenti ...
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Landforms Of Alamosa County, Colorado
A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, mountains, canyons, and valleys, as well as shoreline features such as bays, peninsulas, and seas, including submerged features such as mid-ocean ridges, volcanoes, and the great ocean basins. Physical characteristics Landforms are categorized by characteristic physical attributes such as elevation, slope, orientation, Stratum, stratification, rock exposure and soil type. Gross physical features or landforms include intuitive elements such as berms, mounds, hills, ridges, cliffs, valleys, rivers, peninsulas, volcanoes, and numerous other structural and size-scaled (e.g. ponds vs. lakes, hills vs. mountains) elements including various kinds of inland and oceanic Waterbody, waterbodies and sub-surface features. Mountains, hills, Plateau, plat ...
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Luis De Moscoso Alvarado
Luis de Moscoso Alvarado (1505–1551) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. Luis de Moscoso Alvarado assumed command of Hernando De Soto's expedition upon the latter's death. Early life Luis de Moscoso Alvarado was born in Badajoz, Spain, to Alonso Hernández Diosdado Mosquera de Moscoso and Isabel de Alvarado. De Moscoso had two brothers, Juan de Alvarado and Cristóbal de Mosquera. His uncle was the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, who had excelled in the conquests of Mexico and Central America.Robert S. WeddleHandbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," Luis de Moscoso Alvarado Posted on Handbook of Texas Online. Accessdate on May 8, 2010. Career Expeditions with Pedro de Alvarado Alvarado accompanied his uncle on expeditions to the Americas, where he participated in the conquest of present-day Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. In 1530 Pedro sent Luis to El Salvador to set up a colony in the East of the region. On May 8, 1530 Alvarado founded the town of San Miguel de l ...
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Colorado State Highway 150
State Highway 150 (SH 150) is a long state highway in southern Colorado. SH 150's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 160 (US 160) west of Blanca, and the northern terminus is at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Route description SH 150 begins in the south at its junction with US 160 roughly fifteen miles east of Alamosa and about six miles (10 km) east of Blanca. For much of its length the road heads arrow straight due north across the eastern margin of the broad, flat, nearly featureless San Luis Valley between the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the east and the San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ... to the west. The road eventually deviates from its due north heading as it approaches its northern endpoint at Great Sa ...
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Forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds ''in situ''. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, '' Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020'' (FRA 2020) found that forests covered , or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020. Forests are the predominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are found around the globe. More than half of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, and the United States). The largest share of forests (45 percent) are in th ...
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Douglas Fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''menziesii''), Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''glauca'') and Mexican Douglas-fir (''P. menziesii'' var. ''lindleyana''). Despite its common names, it is not a true fir (genus ''Abies''), spruce (genus '' Picea''), or pine (genus ''Pinus''). It is also not a hemlock; the genus name ''Pseudotsuga'' means "false hemlock". Description Douglas-firs are medium-size to extremely large evergreen trees, tall (although only ''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii'', common name coast Douglas-firs, reach heights near 100 m) and commonly reach in diameter, although trees with diameters of almost exist. The largest coast Douglas-firs regularly live over 500 years, with the old ...
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Woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see differences between British, American, and Australian English explained below). Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher-density areas of trees with a largely closed canopy that provides extensive and nearly continuous shade are often referred to as forests. Extensive efforts by conservationist groups have been made to preserve woodlands from urbanization and agriculture. For example, the woodlands of Northwest Indiana have been preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes. Definitions United Kingdom ''Woodland'' is used in British woodland management to mean tre ...
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Montane Ecology
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems. Dense montane forests are common at moderate elevations, due to moderate temperatures and high rainfall. At higher elevations, the climate is harsher, with lower temperatures and higher winds, preventing the growth of trees and causing the plant community to transition to montane grasslands, shrublands or alpine tundra. Due to the unique climate conditions of montane ecosystems, they contain increased numbers of endemic species. Montane ecosystems also exhibit variation in ecosystem services, which include carbon storage and water supply. Life zones As elevation increases, the climate becomes cooler, due to a decrease in a ...
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Huerfano County, Colorado
Huerfano County (; ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 6,820. The county seat is Walsenburg, Colorado, Walsenburg. The county, whose name comes from the Spanish language, Spanish ''huérfano'' meaning "orphan", was named for the Huerfano Butte, a local landmark. The area of Huerfano County boomed early in the 1900s with the discovery of large coal deposits. After large scale World War II coal demand ended in the 1940s Walsenburg and Huerfano saw a steady economic decline through 2015. Historical Huerfano County was one of the original 17 counties created by the Territory of Colorado on November 1, 1861, and was originally larger than its present size. On November 2, 1870, the Colorado General Assembly created Greenwood County, Colorado Territory, Greenwood County from former Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal land and the eastern portion of Huerfano County. There are countless reports of vast New Spa ...
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San Isabel National Forest
San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Colorado and contains the Sawatch Range, the Collegiate Peaks, and Sangre de Cristo Range. It has a total area of 1,120,233 acres (1,750.36 sq mi, or 4,533.42 km²) spread out over parts of eleven counties in central Colorado. In descending order of land area it is located in Chaffee, Custer, Lake, Huerfano, Fremont, Pueblo, Saguache, Las Animas, Park, Costilla, and Summit counties.Table 6 - NFS Acreage by State, Congressional District and County
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Walsenburg, Colorado
The City of Walsenburg is the Statutory City that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Huerfano County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,049 at the 2020 census, down from 3,068 in 2010. History Walsenburg was originally settled under the name of La Plaza de los Leones in 1859. The settlement was named after settler Don Miguel Antonio de Leon, who came along with others from New Mexico. A post office called Walsenburg has been in operation since 1870. The community was named after Fred Walsen, an early settler. Robert Ford, the assassin of outlaw Jesse James, operated a combination saloon and gambling house in Walsenburg; his home at 320 West 7th Street still stands. The town is also remembered in sports history due to a famous newspaper gaffe ("Will Overhead") after the 1933 Indianapolis 500. Colorado Coalfield War Walsenburg played a central role in the 1913-1914 Strike of the United Mine Workers of America against the Rockefeller-own ...
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