ian Conservation Corps handled several building projects during the Great Depression and remnants of their camps can be found in the park today.June twenty four, 2010, a wildfire burned over one thousand five hundred acres of the park in Larimer County near Estes Park. Estes Park Fire Department believed that lightning may have started the fire. [14]
Great Sand Dunes
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park located in the easternmost parts of Alamosa County and Saguache County, Colorado, United States. Originally created as Great Sand Dunes National Monument on March seventeen, 1932, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was established by an act of the United States Congress on September 13, 2004. The park includes forty four thousand two hundred and forty six acres and the preserve protects an additional forty one thousand six hundred and eighty six acres. p align="justify"> Natural history
The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, rising about seven hundred and fifty feet from the floor of the San Luis Valley on the western base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, covering about nineteen thousand acres . Researchers say that the dunes started forming less than four hundred and forty thousand years ago.dunes were formed from sand and soil deposits of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, flowing through the San Luis Valley. Over the ages, westerly winds picked up sand particles from the river flood plain. As the wind lost power before crossing the Sangre de Cristo Range, the sand was deposited on the east edge of the valley. This process continues, and the dunes are slowly growing. The wind changes the shape of the dunes daily.are several streams flowing on the perimeter of the dunes. The streams erode the edge of the dune field, and sand is carried downstream. The water disappears into the ground, depositing sand on the surface. Winds pick up the deposits of sand, and blow them up onto the dune field once again.a couple inches into the dunes even at their peaks reveals wet sand. Part of the motivation of turning the Monument into a National Park was the extra protection of the water, which Colorado's cities and agriculture covet.is very easy to experience the dune-building process. This is a very windy region, as hikers on the Sand Dunes will attest, as on many days they will be pelted by sand and even small rocks when hiking on the dunes. The wind carries sand and rocks from many miles away. While the dunes don't change location or size that often, there are still parabolic dunes that start in the sand sheet, the outer area around the dunes, and migrate towards the main dune field. Sometimes they join the main dune field, and sometimes they will get covered with grass and vegetation and remain where they are.dunes are relatively stable, however their morphology changes sligh...
