Brief by Central Staff
Sand Dunes – September 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
It will soon be more or less official: Great Sand Dunes National Park.
All manner of dignitaries are expected to visit the Dunes on Sept. 8 for a celebration of the transformation from Great Sand Dunes National Monument to Great Sand Dunes National Park & Wildlife Refuge.
Among those expected are U.S. Senators Wayne Allard and Ben Campbell, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, and Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, along with Mark Burget, director of the Nature Conservancy of Colorado.
Festivities will begin at 9 a.m., and continue through the day with interpretive programs, according to Superintendent Steve Chaney.
The monument will become a park thanks to legislation pushed through Congress last year by the Colorado delegation. About 42,000 acres of Rio Grande National Forest were added to the Dunes, either as part of the park or its adjacent wildlife refuge.
The other big parcel that was supposed to be added to the Dunes, the 100,000-acre Baca Ranch, is still in private hands, with the partners litigating among themselves over selling to the feds.