Sculpted into graceful contours by countless centuries of wind and
water, the Great Sand Dunes sprawl along the eastern fringes of the
vast San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. Covering an area of
nearly thirty square miles, they are the tallest aeolian, or
wind-produced, dunes in North America, towering 750 feet above the
valley floor. With the addition of the enormous Baca Ranch and
other adjacent lands, the dunes - originally designated as a
National Monument in 1932 - attained official National Park status
in 2004. In Sea of Sand, Michael M. Geary guides readers on a
historical journey through this unique ecosystem, which includes an
array of natural and cultural wonders, from the main dunefield and
verdant wetlands to the summits of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Described by explorer Zebulon Pike as ""a sea in a storm"" and by
frontier photographer William Henry Jackson as ""a curious and very
singular phase of nature's freak,"" the Great Sand Dunes are a
nexus of more than 10,000 years of human history, from Paleolithic
big-game hunters to nomadic Native Americans, from Spanish
conquistadores and transcontinental explorers to hard-rock miners
and modern-day tourists in motor homes. Like these successive waves
of visitors, Sea of Sand follows the water, analyzing its critical
role in the settlement and development of the region. Geary also
describes the profound impact that waves of human use and
settlement have had on the land - which ultimately inspired the
early grassroots efforts by San Luis Valley citizens to protect the
dunes from further exploitation. He examines as well the more
recent legislative effort led by an unprecedented coalition of
local, state, and federal agencies and organizations, including The
Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service, to secure the
Great Sand Dunes' national park designation. Amply illustrated, Sea
of Sand is the definitive history of the natural, cultural, and
political forces that helped shape this incomparable landscape.
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