LETTER: Too many boulders in local park landscaping

As many Clark County residents have observed, our public parks and landscaping have recently changed and are continuing to change. There is less vegetation, more crushed gravel surrounding sparse ornamental cacti and succulents, more exposed soil, more soil blown away by frequent winds and less habitat space for skittering critters. That instantaneous joy of spotting a tiny lizard or mammal running around a park seems to be less frequent.

A common decoration in public parks is a boulder placed on corners of landscaping and parking lots. Boulders do not support as much local fauna as numerous, smaller flat rocks.

In the spirit of supporting local fauna in disturbed habitats, I support replacing decorative boulders and large swaths of gravel with functional flat rocks of varying sizes. Lizards, mammals and their food supplies thrive in an environment filled with many crevices and layers of rock.

Take a stroll through the wild desert surrounding the Vegas Valley, and you will likely observe burrows home to native fauna underneath piles of rock, not so much underneath giant rocks. Pound for pound, even riprap would support more native fauna than a boulder and perfectly-graded gravel. Anything but another boulder in our parks, please.