Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

▪ monument, Colorado, United States

      area of large sand dunes and mountainous terrain in south-central Colorado, U.S. Covering some 150,000 acres (60,700 hectares), it is located at the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley along the western base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Alamosa.

      The park's origins trace to 1932, when the Great Sand Dunes National Monument was established. Federal legislation enacted in 2000 created the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve out of 65 square miles (168 square km) of national forestland to the north and east of the monument. The bill also authorized the federal government to acquire additional land to the north and west in order to expand and redesignate the monument as a national park and to establish a national wildlife refuge. Land acquisition began, and in 2004 the monument officially became a national park.

      The park contains the highest sand dunes (sand dune) in North America, with ever-changing crests that rise to 700 feet (215 metres). The dunes were formed by the prevailing winds that blow toward the northeast across the San Juan Mountains and down into the San Luis Valley, through which the Rio Grande flows. These winds carry particles of sand that are dropped, before the winds surge upward, at the foot of the steep Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east. The national preserve encompasses a portion of the western-slope watershed of the Sangre de Cristo, from the base of the mountains to the crestline; elevations often extend above 13,000 feet (3,960 metres), and there are numerous alpine lakes and wetlands.

      Several types of grasses, the kangaroo rat, and some insects survive on the relatively stable dunes. The lower slopes of the Sangre de Cristo are forested in pine, cottonwood, and aspen, which give way higher up to spruce and fir. At successively higher elevations are found subalpine meadow and alpine tundra plant communities that in summer abound in wildflowers. Archaeological remains of the prehistoric Clovis complex have been recovered from the area, which in historic times was the domain of Ute peoples.

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