White Sands National Park in New Mexico protects 145,762 acres in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern part of the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. Formed over thousands of years as ancient lakes evaporated and wind broke and carried gypsum eastward, the bright dunes remain an active landscape. The basin also preserves an exceptionally long human story, from fossilized footprints dated between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago to later Native peoples, Apache homelands, settlers, ranching, and small-scale mining. Protection efforts culminated in its establishment as a national monument in 1933 and redesignation as a national park in 2019.