Osborn Preserve: A Short Story

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I went to the Fairfield Osborn Preserve where I am a naturalist. I went to where the waterfall was, which was functioning for the first time in a while because of the recent rains. The whole area was alive with water. The creek was rushing past with a harsh noise, quite different than the quiet dribble of water that was there the week before. I stood in front of the waterfall, rather than sit, with sticks and leaves crunching under my muddy boots and my head and shoulders wet from the rain despite my best efforts to bundle up.
The area was crisp and wet, but beautiful. The moss and trees were a vibrant kelly green, creating a startling contrast to the brown and orange leaves on the bushes and ground. The sky was a dismal grey, but the rain that it brought created a clean smell of eucalyptus, oak, mints, and oddly enough, mud. It was the first time that I really …show more content…

Behind me, a bit in the distance, was a wire fence used to do some research on flora. It was warped from the weather, not really in use anymore. This would not have been there five years ago. There was also beer bottles and leftover burnt pieces of wood, most likely from a bonfire someone illegally made a few nights before. The entire shape of the land over where we were was new. Next to the waterfall is a long incline, what used to be a creek. However, sometime ago a landslide occurred and the creek stopped, leaving the waterfall to be the main source of the creek as well as underground sources.
Landslides have shaped the area, so it is hard to imagine what the place must have been like as recently as twenty years ago, let alone a hundred. However, there are remnants of a past. There are concrete blockades down the creek, some of the only reminders of a settlement that was there. Part of the creek was a swimming pool, where if it was full enough people would come and swim in that little area. Now, it is a popular spot to see

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