There is a place where the colors of a sunset can be so close to the ground it's as though reaching out you can almost touch it. Where miles of lush green fields cover the hills like a soft blanket and bails of freshly cute hay perfectly shaped in round circles descend as far as the eye can see. And in the summer after the rain falls in sheets the sun illuminates the grass, reflecting diamonds of dew that sparkle little rainbows in each droplet. Where white-tail deer bring out their young for the first time after birth, their legs wobbly and unbalanced, yet they yearn to explore this new land in which they find themselves. Where eagles and owls take one last swoop barely touching the grass, and disappear into the distant mountains, and beauty engulfs itself around every living creature - this is where I call home.

I grew up west of Santa Fe, a few miles from the Chatfield Dam right off of Titan Road in a small ranch style home. To me this is my peace, the last place on earth that feels like heaven. Where warm open space circles my home giving a view of distant land miles away, uncommon these days. My parents still live in this home they bought almost 30 years ago. It's a community where farms still thrive, and horses and cattle roam free among miles of acres that back up to the Highline Canel, where children still swing over the water on an old rope that was put up long before my generation.

I never will surrender to what I wish was untouchable, nor will I sit quietly among the norm to what is wrong, however, I am one person among thousands who are against me. For my voice is small and it drowns into a determined crowd promoting change and new establishment. Soon bulldozers will be changing the land I once called perfection and heaven will no longer be a place on earth, for my peace does have an end.

So many are for this change and because of this millions of homes will soon flourish among this untouched land. For the taste of money trumps beauty and greed overshadows righteousness and because of that a lifeline to nature will end. Soon a sea of black roofs and identical colored homes all in a row will be the theme of this new life. Shopping malls will soon outline where endangered species once roamed in a safe-haven of their own. My grandchildren will have missed out on what I used to call heaven right here on earth, and there will no longer be that peace I once felt. I could never have imagined this.

Soon, all animals will scatter hoping to find another safe place, and they'll vanish never to be seen in this area again. Foxes will fade away, white-tail deer will disappear, buck horns will die out, hawks will dwindle, and soon all that was once familiar will cease to exist. The animals that wish to linger will meet their fate on an open 4 to 6-lane highway and pass away trying to remember what used to be their home. But for some the all-mighty dollar will relinquish this one last thought.

This is about to be the fate of one of the last open spaces in Douglas County. This is the last place to see animals not normally seen by the naked eye, and a view that could last a lifetime. This is the last place to feel the colors of a sunset engulf you, and to take a walk not to hear the roaring of a million cars on an open highway.

So many have come to fight this change, but we can no longer save it. We can no longer stand in their way even though every fiber of our being dies a little more in the thought of what's to come. This world will soon perish and dissolve into a memory of what once was there. My parents, like many of the other home-owners in this area pray they will have died before the first breaking of the ground. For they cannot bare to see what's ahead, nor do they wish to live through it.

The natives of this area can no longer save this place, but just watch now from the side of the road with heavy hearts, tearful eyes and a pray they whisper. To the majestic eagle, this was your kingdom, to the 8-point buck this was your resting place, to the young red fox this was your exploration, and for me, I am glad I got to see you.

I'm thankful that I got to grow up in a field of heaven and a world that brought the true meaning of nature to life. For humans did not have a hand in creating this beauty, but will have a hand in ceasing its existence.

If you get a chance take the time to travel down old Titan Road in the middle of a sunset. You'll realize what beauty is at its finest hour and what defines peace in a way you never imagined could right here on earth. You'll forget you're still alive, but only for a moment.