What does it take to protect towering dunes, alpine tundra, and ancient wetlands—all in one park? In this episode, we sit down with Andrea Compton, Superintendent of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado. Known for its surreal dune field (the tallest in North America), the park also holds rich biodiversity: from subalpine lakes to desert shrublands, all shaped by a powerful, protected watershed.

Andrea shares how her early fascination with the natural world—and a career rooted in bat, bird, and owl surveys—led her from environmental consulting to the National Park Service. We trace her path from Cabrillo National Monument to Joshua Tree, and now to Great Sand Dunes, where scientific research, resource stewardship, and storytelling converge.

She breaks down how inventory and monitoring programs help the Park Service track ecosystem change over time, and reveals the lesser-known histories of the places she's managed—from tide pools and WWII bunkers to sacred springs and groundwater politics.

This episode is for the science-minded, the sand dune dreamers, and anyone curious about how we conserve complexity in the wild.

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Who Runs This Park is produced by Maddie Pellman with music by Danielle Bees.