The State - News from Aug. 17, 1987

After half a century of opposition by residents of eastern Nevada’s Snake Range, Great Basin National Park has become a reality. Two thousand people turned out for the official dedication of the nation’s newest national park, a 77,000-acre area near the Utah border that includes 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak and the Lehman Caves, one of the country’s largest limestone caverns. Another park centerpiece is a stand of 5,000-year-old Bristle Cone Pines, said to be the oldest living plants in the world. In a concession to ranchers and miners, who for 60 years have fought proposals for Nevada’s first national park, Great Basin will be one of the few parks to allow grazing and retention of existing mining claims within its boundaries.