The ponds of Sawhill and Walden were formed forty years ago to remedy the effects of gravel mining operations along the Boulder Creek bottomlands. The Sawhill family, who settled the land in the late 1800s, leased the bottomlands for gravel mining to help lift them out of the Great Depression. The leased land was rived to support infrastructure development in the rapidly growing region. Although gravel operations continue in adjacent areas, the operations at Sawhill and Walden ended in the late seventies, and the abandoned gravel pits soon filled with water. Slowly, a wetland emerged for a variety of wildlife. Trees and other vegetation were planted to further reclaim the lands.

Sawhill is a place of strange and ravaged beauty. Traveled by foot on trail, the experience is pleasant. Off trail movement is difficult and an earlier history is felt underfoot. The earth is cleaved and overturned. It reminds me of a war I experienced, and an elegy by Rilke: “For beauty is just the beginning of a terror we can barely stand. We admire it because it calmly refuses to crush us.”

Richard Van Pelt

March 6, 2015