The end of winter is quickly approaching, with longer daylight hours and warming temperatures. And while it will still be a few months before the green of spring arrives, there is definitely a feeling of emergence in the air. More friendly faces appear in the streets for evening strolls, once huddled up in the warmth of their homes throughout the winter. Birdsong fills the morning air as our feathered friends return from their winter migration grounds. Soon we will see the year's new calves, the cracking of lake ice, the first colored buds of growth on the end of a cottonwood tree.