Mechanical aeration at Shippee Open Space gets underway.

On a ski boot-shaped patch of land tucked up against the flanks of the Crown at Emma – where tawny, hip-high grass waves in the breeze and elk sometimes bed down in the afternoon sun – there’s more going on than meets the eye.

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Elk feed at Sky Mountain Park on a recent early morning.

Most winter closures on Pitkin County open spaces begin Dec. 1, but a different sort of closure impacts recreation each autumn, as the hours of daylight grow shorter.

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A badger, captured on a wildlife camera at Glassier Open Space.

The wild inhabitants of Pitkin County’s open spaces aren’t always obvious, so when something new shows up on a wildlife camera, it’s cause for excitement, even if the animal has always been there. So it was with the first-ever detection of a badger on an open space property.

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