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December 4, 2009

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Reid marks Great Basin anniversary

Monday, Oct. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., celebrated the 10th anniversary of Great Basin National Park with an open house at the park's visitor center.

Ten years ago, Reid wrote the legislation creating Nevada's first and only national park.

"I consider the creation of the Great Basin National Park one of my most important legislative accomplishments," Reid said Sunday. "We faced many challenges in creating the park but, thanks to the people of Nevada and especially the citizens of White Pine County, Great Basin will be around for our children and our children's children to enjoy.

Nearly 90,000 visitors a year travel to Great Basin National Park to explore the mysteries of Lehman Caves, to climb Wheeler Peak and to touch the ancient, twisted limbs of the bristlecone pines, which have before around since before the pyramids were built.

President Ronald Reagan signed the Great Basin legislation into law on Oct. 28, 1986.

Since then, Reid and other Nevadans have fought to protect the park from funding cuts, park-closing commissions and comments from members of Congress who believed that Great Basin didn't fit the definition of a national park and ought to be closed.

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