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1982 Map of Fifteenmile Lake

Name: 1982 Topographic Map of Fifteenmile Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1982
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1982

About this map

The White Sands Missile Range dominates this orthophotomap, showing the stark intersection of military infrastructure and the dynamic Tularosa Basin landscape in the early 1980s. The map illustrates a unique environment defined by White Sands and extensive areas of Shifting Sand, where topography is constantly reshaped by wind. Water features like Big Salt Lake, Horseshoe Lake, and Fifteenmile Lake appear as ephemeral catchments in an arid basin otherwise drained by Three Rivers and Bitter Creek.

While largely devoid of permanent settlements, the sheet details the administrative boundaries between Otero, Sierra, and Dona Ana counties. The presence of a Radio Tower and various Jeep Trails indicates the managed nature of this restricted military airspace and proving ground. The use of aerial photography from the early 1970s provides an exceptionally clear view of the dune patterns and alkali flats before later 20th-century shifts in the basin floor.