A Park for Nevada Makes Sense

The idea of a Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada has been kicking around for years. It was actively promoted two decades ago, but was opposed by mining and ranching interests in White Pine County. Now the idea has been revived in the House Interior Committee, and it deserves support.

Under the guidance of Rep. Bruce F. Vento (D-Minn.), the Interior parks subcommittee voted recently to create a 174,000-acre Great Basin National Park that would incorporate the Lehman Caves National Monument, two major areas of ancient bristlecone pine and other diverse features of the Great Basin. The terrain would range from high desert country to alpine wilderness on the 12,000-foot slopes of Wheeler Peak.

The region, Vento argued, “encompasses some of the most spectacular mountain summits and natural wildlife in the United States.” The bristlecone pines are among the world’s oldest living plants, dating back as many as 5,000 years.

The park would be in the district of Rep. Barbara F. Vucanovich (R-Nev.), who complained about the method by which the park was proposed--as an amendment to a Nevada wilderness bill. She said that there had not been enough study of the idea and of whether it would be good or bad for White Pine County. The office of Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) said that Laxalt had commented in the past that he might be interested in creation of a park from part of the Wheeler Peak area. Laxalt’s office wants to hear more from residents in White Pine County and the town of Ely. The Reagan Administration has not taken a position yet.

A park incorporating the varying terrain of the Great Basin makes eminent sense. Much of the land already is in federal ownership. And the economic arguments waged against the park in the past may have waned. The White Pine region has suffered severe economic setbacks with the depression in the copper-mining industry. Creation of the park certainly would increase the tourism potential of east-central Nevada, and that might have far more appeal to area residents now than it did 20 years ago.