Corners for Conservation, Showcasing a Colorado Spectacle

Forrest Czarnecki

6 months ago

Tender, petite emerald stems parting the damp soil.

Whistling wings zip past, weaving toward the bony branches of a once-great cottonwood.

A hot breeze, lazy but light, sweeps across the rolling sandhills.

Grasshoppers clack and buzz, an expired salsify plant crunches underfoot.

Clusters of golden petals and rich black cones, set against a sapphire sky in the late afternoon.

Pops of fuschia, bursting like fireworks, pepper the unruly green strips.

A solitary bee quietly works the old flower, fuzzy with pollen and glowing in the sunset.

Rugged sculptures of orange, red, pink and purple tower above the quilt of farmfields.

Faraway silos and homesteads silhouetted, standing sentinel in the quickening light.

The landscape settles.

Dark, whispering and more muted in color.

This is Colorado’s Eastern Plains.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Grassland Habitat Coordinator Trent Verquer holds up the seeds from a blue flax, a wildflower native to Colorado, while visiting a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

A sainfoin plant shows early growth at a Corners for Conservation property in eastern Colorado in late May 2025. Sainfoin serves as a pollinator-friendly plant and helps add nitrogen to the soil.

Early season green up on a Corners for Conservation property in eastern Colorado in late May 2025. These properties are magnets for pollinating insects, songbirds, and game birds.

A mix of grasses, wildflowers and weeds grow in a Corners for Conservation property on Roy Pfaltzgraff’s farm near Haxtun, Colorado. In the first couple years of growth the weed stage is very heavy and by the third year, the grasses and wildflowers start to take over. These Corners strips are 90 feet wide and border all but one of the Pfaltzgraff’s farm fields.

A Rocky Mountain bee plant and some sunflowers in bloom at Pony Express State Wildlife Area near Julesburg, Colorado.

Black-eyed Susans bloom on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado. Wildflowers on these properties provide habitat and food resources for pollinators, songbirds, game birds and more.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Grassland Habitat Coordinator Trent Verquer picks apart a doveweed seed while holding a sunflower at Pony Express State Wildlife Area.

A wings of a grasshopper clinging to the stalk of a western salsify plant catch the late afternoon sunlight on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

A monarch butterfly rides the breeze above a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado. Corners properties provide great habitat and food resources for all kinds of pollinating insects, including butterflies, moths, bees and more.

A Rocky Mountain bee plant plays host to pollinating insects on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

Plains coreopsis, a native wildflower, blooms on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

A lark bunting, Colorado’s state bird, rests atop a weed after catching a grasshopper on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

Upright coneflower blooms in abundance on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

Western meadowlark eggs and fledglings in a nest on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado. Corners properties provide great habitat for songbirds, game birds and big game animals.

Insects work their way around a black-eyed Susan on a Corners for Conservation strip at Roy Pfaltzgraff’s farm near Haxtun, Colorado.

A sainfoin bends in the wind on a Corners for Conservation property in eastern Colorado in late May 2025. Sainfoin is a favorite of pollinating insects, with colorful early season blooms.

A bumblebee visits the flowers of a sainfoin on a Corners for Conservation property in late May 2025. Sainfoin are a favorite of pollinators with vibrant early-season blooms, and they help add nitrogen to the soil.

Sunflowers in bloom at Pony Express State Wildlife Area near Julesburg, Colorado.

A grasshopper blends in with the leaves on a Maxmilian sunflower on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

Dormant grasses on a Corners for Conservation property in eastern Colorado in late May 2025. These grasses serve as important habitat for pheasants in the fall and winter.

A Rocky Mountain bee plant catches the evening sunlight on a Corners for Conservation property near Haxtun, Colorado.

A large mid-summer thunderstorm builds in the distance on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. In the foreground a Corners for Conservation strip meets a farm field.

Corners for Conservation (C4C)

Corners for Conservation (C4C) is a native grassland habitat restoration and conservation project operated by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in partnership with the High Plains Land Conservancy and private landowners on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. C4C properties create valuable habitat for pollinating insects, migrating songbirds, ring-necked pheasants, doves, quail and deer. These properties provide benefits for agricultural producers enrolled in the program, restore native grassland habitat, and increase public access for hunters.

Written and photographed by Forrest Czarnecki. Forrest is a Colorado hunter and angler, and he is a Digital Media Specialist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.