Hi Mark, Oh that's interesting - Although the OED (park n. 3b) concentrates only on the geographic aspect of the Colorado/Wyoming sense ( a valley-like plateau ) it seems like the presence of trees was important. Aspen, like birch, can form parkland in the Butzerian sense.
You give me the excuse to self-indulgently muse: birch parkland differs from even the most open of birchwoods in at least two respects 1. Ecologically, there is not enough shade or leafmould to develop a woodland ground flora 2. Psychologically, it is transparent; it lacks the concealing aspect that makes even the smallest wood seem somehow infinite.
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