The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Experience this diversity through hiking, sand sledding, splashing in Medano Creek, wildlife watching, and more!

Even though it’s been a dry summer, some rains have brought wildflowers like these to the Park. 

Photo: Patrick Myers, NPS 

Visitors to the Pixley National Wildlife Refuge in the San Joaquin Valley in California, may be surprised to see it is home to small seasonal marsh wetlands yet what they may not know is that it has some of the last significant acres of Southern San Joaquin Valley Grassland habitat. This habitat type provides nesting, foraging, and cover for a variety of species including threatened Tipton kangaroo rat, blunt-nosed leapord lizard, and the endangered San Joaquin kit fox. During the winter months, it is the best place in the Southern San Joaquin Valley to view Sandhill Cranes.

Photo by Terry Llovet