Early pioneers staking claim on the Kansas prairie routinely planted the fast-growing cottonwood to provide the shade, warmth and cooking fuel they were accustomed to back east. Because of the part played by the tree in the early days of settlement, the cottonwood has been called the pioneer tree of Kansas. The cottonwood tree had great value to the early pioneers, enough value to have several towns named for them in ten states, with two each in Texas and Utah. It can also be made useful in protecting stream banks from erosion, as it will thrive on ground too wet for trees that will produce more valuable lumber and which is too wet to cultivate. It is readily reproduced by sprouts from cut stumps and roots, and can be propagated by cuttings set in the ground where the trees are to stand. So here is a sunburst taken near Ladora Lake on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR. This is an HDR image from three bracketed exposures of one stop each.