White Sands became a new US National Park

The list of National parks in the United States now includes 62 territories. White Sands Park was added to the country’s natural gems.

The glistening white sands of New Mexico rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders. 

Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield. 

White Sands National Park preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.

White Sands has unusually harsh environmental conditions, even for the desert. But that hasn’t stopped animal species from adapting here. And while it may be hard to imagine, there are over 800 species of animals that call white sands their home.

Thousands of years ago, giant animals roamed the shores of an ancient lake that covered what is now White Sands National Park. Columbian mammoths, giant sloths, and dire wolves stepped in the muddy banks of Lake Otero, leaving behind their footprints. Today evidence of the path they walked is preserved in the sediments of Alkali flat.