Waiting for the snow to melt…
The Great Sand Dunes Wilderness within Great Sand Dunes National Monument was designated by Public Law 94-567, dated Oct 20th, 1976. According to the act the wilderness was to comprise 33,450 acres with a potential wilderness addition of 670 acres. Public Law 95-625, dated Nov 10th, 1978 added 1,109 acres to Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Public Law 96-87, dated Oct 12th, 1979, amended this addition to 1,900 acres and further added that "The Secretary shall designate the lands described by this paragraph for management in accordance with the adjacent lands within the monument * * *." This amendment, therefore, has the effect of authorizing inclusion of the 1,900 acres in the wilderness area. At the time the Acts were approved the added lands had non-conforming uses prohibited by the Wilderness Act of 1964 and so were designated as potential wilderness until such time as the non-conforming uses were eliminated. The National Park Service depicted the wilderness and potential wilderness additions on maps entitled "Great Sand Dunes Wilderness, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado", numbered 140-20,006-D and dated January, 1980. In May, 1980, the NPS published the legal description of the wilderness and potential wilderness additions. The maps and legal description are on file at the headquarters of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, 11500 Highway 150, Mosca, CO 81144. At the time of the establishment of the wilderness area two of the potential wilderness units had been purchased by the government but had non-conforming uses which precluded them from being included in the original wilderness declaration. One was occupied by the previous owner under a "Life Estate Agreement" while the other was occupied under a "Use and Occupancy" agreement. The former expired upon the death of the occupant in 1995 while the latter's term expired in 1999. Subsequently each unit reverted to the exclusive control of the government and the non-conforming uses were eliminated. Additionally, improvements existing on one of the units were removed and the area restored to a natural state. The other two units were privately held, accessible by motor vehicle, and with potential further development. One 40 acre tract was purchased in 2000 and the remaining lands purchased in 2004. Subsequently, the government holds all rights and privileges to the land including mineral rights (which never passed from the government in the first place). Note that Public Law 106-530, dated Nov 22, 2000, abolished Great Sand Dunes National Monument and instead established Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The potential wilderness lands hereby designated as wilderness total 2,505 acres more or less and are described as:
Knowledge graph centered on Notice of Designation of Potential Wilderness as W with 45 nodes and 84 connections. Top connected: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service (Curecanti National Recreation Area), United States Geological Survey (USGS), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
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