Colorado America the Beautiful Quarter
The Colorado America the Beautiful Quarter will be released in 2014 as the twenty fourth issue of the new quarter series. The America the Beautiful Quarters Program featuring depictions of National Parks and National Sites from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia in the order the sites were federally designated.
Great Sand Dunes National Park was selected to be depicted on the reverse of the upcoming quarter. Of Colorado’s National Parks, this one is only the third most visited. On the Colorado Quarter for the previous State Quarters series, the Rocky Mountains had been portrayed.
The Great Sand Dunes Quarters will be issued for circulation, with coins expected to be produced at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. Special coins will also be minted for collectors. This includes proof and 90% silver proof versions produced at the San Francisco Mint, and over sized silver bullion coins bearing a design which will be an exact duplicate of the quarter.
About Great Sand Dunes National Park
There are few places in the world where you can see make a sand castle, slide down sand dunes, float in a river, and hike through arctic tundra on your way to the top of a thirteen thousand foot high mountain peak, but all of these things and more are possible at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. The dunes at the Great Sand Dunes National Park are some of the most unique in the world. The landscape is surrounded by mountains, the home of wetlands, and the site of seasonal streams and permanent lakes.
If you’re wondering how in the world there came to be giant sand dunes in the middle of Colorado, you’re not alone. Scientists are still unraveling the geological record that tells the tale of how the dunes came to be smack in the middle of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.
In 2002, geologic researchers discovered that a large lake once covered the entire San Luis valley between the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountains. When climate change slowly started to cause the lake to shrink and dry up, the sandy lake bottom was exposed to the sweeping winds that came through the valley. Over many years, erosion and wind cause the tiny grains of sand to pile up into the dunes that we see today.
The area, including the mountains that surround it was first protected by the federal government in March of 1932. In 2000, the federal government purchased 97,000 acres of surrounding land, tripling the size of the protected area. At that point it also become a National Park and Preserve with the intention of preserving the unique American landscape.
