The Rockies are home to animals and humans alike. Both depend on the land and its natural resources to survive. They provide us with a place to live, gold to provide a living, and entertainment. But what happens when we go to far? What happens when we begin to destroy the place that means a great deal to life all around it. .
As humans advance further into the depths of technology there will always be downsides. This time it's taking its toll on the Rockies. When gold was first discovered in the Rockies it seemed like a wonderful thing. It brought people into the area, houses and businesses shot up like wild flowers, and everything was looking good. As the goldrush settled down people started moving away leaving their mines and everything else behind. These mines have just been sitting there. Over all the years the water is reacted with lead, zinc, copper, and other things. This would normally be fine, but the runoff is acidic due to all the different things mixing. This is very hard on wildlife around this area and on the people. One animal in particular that is important, that is affected by all this is the beaver. The beaver makes dams which hold back water and also supply a habitat for many creatures. In the spring when all the snow melts, if you didn't have the beaver dams all the water would make the rivers and streams flood over big time. This would in turn affect the people of this area. Speaking of affecting the people, very large amounts of the surrounding communities water source come from the streams and rivers. If they are polluted that makes it a little harder to supply the people with good water. On another note, people traveling to new places don't want to see brown gross rivers and polluted up streams. This drastically could affect the tourism, an industry that Colorado relies very heavily on to bring in state revenue. Think about this for a second now, if all the rivers are polluted and the land isn't as beautiful, and no one wants to come see Colorado on their vacation, what will it do to there economy.
