The Great Sand Dunes National Monument in the San Luis Valley is one of Colorado’s undiscovered natural treasures. The dunes also recently became a focus of attention for national politicians. On December 18, 1999, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit visited the Dunes accompanied by Colorado’s senators, Wayne Allard and Ben Campbell, as well as representative Scott McInnis. The purpose of the visit was to promote the idea of expanding the Monument to the south and west in order to improve the protection of the dunes’s ecosystem and to redesignate the Monument as a National Park.
The sand dunes are the tallest inland dunes in North America. They constitute a unique ecosystem that is dependent on adequate groundwater, surface water, and sand—sand that is continually resupplied from a large sand sheet that sits in the proposed expansion area. Beyond the sheet of loose sand is an area known as the sabkha, an area of sand deposits hardened by minerals from groundwater. Sab kha formations are generally found near oceans, and they are rarely found so far inland. The total sand area contains archeological sites form pre-Columbian times; wetlands (very uncommon in a near desert environment); and various insect species native to the area.
Although the sand sheet and sabkha are partially protected by land owned by the state of Colorado and by the Nature Con servancy, other land is still privately owned and subject to development or transfer of groundwater to locations outside the Valley. The Park Service and local citizens fear the environmental consequences of future development to the dunes system and are promoting the expansion idea.
A cornerstone of the expansion proposal is the purchase of the 100,000-acre Baca Ranch to the northwest of the existing Monument and southwest of the town of Crestone. The portion of the Baca in the middle of the northern third of the property is already subdivided and likely would not be included in any purchase. The southern half of the Baca is almost all sand sheet and sabkha, and thus critical to the preservation of the dunes ecosystem. The northeastern part of the Baca includes Kit Carson and Challenger Peaks, two of only three fourteen thousand foot peaks in Colorado that are totally in private ownership.
The CMC joined with several other outdoor and environmental organizations in January, 2000, to offer a qualified endorsement of the expansion proposal. The letter to the state’s congressional delegation and the Park Service outlined general principles that the organizations felt should be followed in drafting the expansion legislation. The principles enhance the protection of the dunes system while discouraging “disneyfication” of the proposed Park. The organizations also asked for inclusion into the Park of four small adjacent land areas that are currently proposed in the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1999 for wilderness designation.
As of March 20, 2000, Representative McInnis has announced plans to introduce legislation that would expand and redesignate the dunes as a national park. In his announcement, McInnis stated, “There’s a real need to bring the Dunes’ entire ecosystem under the protective reach of public stewardship.” The legislation will include an appropriation for purchase of the Baca. McInnis also proposes a hunting preserve in the wilderness area northeast of the existing Monument, a codicil that may be of concern to some. Finally, the northwest segment of the Baca, an area with many desert wetlands, would be designated as a wildlife refuge. Senator Allard is expected to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.
CMC members interested in following the dunes legislation should refer to the Club’s website at http://www.cmc.org/ cmc/. Information about the final version of the legislation should be posted by the time you read this article. Additional information is available from Vera Smith at the CMC office.
Editors note - Since the writers of this article, Rep. Scott McInnis introduced legislation into Congress, that would expand the Monument to a Park and Preserve. For more info on the bill, check out www.cmc.org/cmc/conservation.