All prints signed by Daniel Shippey

Rio Grande Cottonwood - White Sands National Park in New Mexico

These trees tolerate poor soil and arid environments but they’re also an indicator of a fairly dependable water source. I have read that Native Americans used the soft, workable texture in basket weaving. The tree’s buds and flowers are edible and the bark has some medicinal purposes. Meandering around the white sandy dunes was otherworldly. It was bright, quiet and exposed. The finely ground gypsum dunefields are the largest of their kind in the world. Some of the dunes are 60 feet tall. The park stretches across 225 square miles of land in Otero County and Doña County, New Mexico. The Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert is flanked by the Sacramento Mountains to the east and the San Andres and Oscura Mountains to the west. I enjoyed the sparse shade this tree had to offer before continuing the trek through the dunes.

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