Story Behind The Song

This song was written in honor of saving the Baca National Wildlife Refuge from natural gas drilling. In my eyes, all land is sacred and yet this place is beyond words. It is an offering for a place I truly love, a place that needs a voice.

Lyrics

Down by the
Cottonwoods
On the old
Baca ranch
Where the Spanish
Staked their claim
The land was courted
By many a hand
From miners to lawyers
To cattlemen
All hoped for riches
All knew the splendor
Til a refuge was born
A refuge of wonder

Chorus
Once it's gone
It's gone
There's no second chance
What can we do
To save this land
How much we will lose
If complacency chooses
A refuge of beauty
In a refuge of time
Now we are told
Under soil and lies
Lies four days of fuel
Under the guise
They say there's no choice
The drilling will come
They hope we will swallow
Their will and be done

Chorus

BRIDGE
The bugling elk
The great horned owl
The red-tailed hawk
A coyote's howl
They will not mourn
our loss
But oh we will
When the sky is empty
And the land is still

Chorus
Once it's gone
It's gone
There's no second chance
What can we do
To save this land
How much we will lose
If complacency chooses
A refuge of beauty
A refuge of beauty
A refuge of beauty
In a refuge of time