when did the great sand dunes become a national park
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve The idea that the dunes could be destroyed by gold mining or concrete manufacturing alarmed residents of Alamosa and Monte Vista. By the 1920s, the dunes had become a source of pride for local people, and a potential source of tourist dollars for local businesses. Members of the P.E.O. Sisterhood sponsored a bill to Congress asking for national monument status for Great Sand Dunes. Widely supported by local people, the bill was signed into law in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover. Similar support in the late 1990s resulted in the monumentâ€™s expansion into a national park and preserve in 2000-2004.[11]
White Sands, New Mexico The desert is located in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. Its white sands are not composed of quartz, like most desert sands, but of gypsum and calcium sulfate. Unlike other desert sands, it is cool to the touch, due to the high rate of evaporation of surface moisture and the fact that the sands reflect, rather than absorb, the sun's rays. At 1185 meters above sea level, there are approximately 442 square kilometers of dune fields and is known to be the world's largest surface deposit of gypsum.[5]