Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area

The Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area (NHA) is named after the range of jagged, 14,000-foot mountains that defines the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, one of the largest and highest alpine valleys in North America. It is also home to Colorado’s oldest town, San Luis, established in 1851. Besides Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve – whose 750-foot mounds are the tallest dunes on the continent – the heritage area contains three national wildlife refuges, a national forest and two forest wilderness areas, 13 state wildlife areas and a Nature Conservancy preserve, the Medano-Zapata Ranch. It also includes the beginnings of the Rio Grande, the third-longest river system in North America.

Culture & History

The heritage area also contains more than 20 cultural properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including the narrow-gauge Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad between Antonito, CO and Chama, NM, as well as Fort Garland, the adobe outpost where Kit Carson served as commander after the Civil War. Recently, a project through the Underrepresented Community Grant Program, which works to diversify nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places, funded an effort to recognize the significance of select historic properties within the Sangre de Cristo NHA related to Latino history in the region.

Nature & Outdoors

This Heritage Area includes the following sites:

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic and Historic Byway
Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge
Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge
Rio Grande River
Zapata Falls
Old Spanish National Historic Trail

Support

The Sangre de Cristo NHA Non-profit works with its many partners within its reaches to provide a wide range of activities, history and scenery fit for anyone wanting to visit. Check out their website, where you can find more information on this culturally and naturally significant landscape.

Your donation is reinvested directly into our communities and serves as a source of much needed funding for collaborative initiatives that build partnerships in education, interpretation, stewardship, heritage development and tourism promotion throughout the region.