This idyllic vale is dominated by three features: a broad grove of aspens, a creek choked with beaver dams, and a grassy flood plain that stretches far in between. The trees will encroach no further than the seasonal floods allow, which grow increasingly more severe when the beavers are left to breed unchecked. The area is also frequented by large herds of elk, which graze on the young grasses, aspens, and the waterway's cottonwood saplings that are not taken first by the rodents.