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THE PEOPLE

TIME / PROFESSIONAL STUDIES / TOURIST FACILITIES / HISTORICAL

LAND USE / PARK SIZE / MARKET AREAS

I. WORLD RECORD For 62 years, political leaders, educators, conservationists, humanitarians, and Mr. and Mrs. America, have been striving to establish a national park in the Great Basin. Surveys, bills, magazine stories and newspaper articles have come out in the affirmative for a Great Basin National Park. Today 84 percent of Nevadans want a park. The work has been done. Any more studies would be redundant. A time record has been set for both America and possibly the world. Each year that passes more tourist dollars are lost for Nevada and the other Great Basin states.

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PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Scientific studies ranging from a 1,000 page Doctoral Dissertation, The Proposed Great Basin National Park: A Geographical Interpretation of the Southern Snake Range, Nevada, University of California (1974), $60,000 Government Survey, Great Basin Studies, U.S. Department of the Interior (1980), Great Basin National Park Economic Study, University of Nevada (1960), Timberline Ancients, a story of the world's oldest living trees (1972), and a multitude of over 800 references on the Great Basin and Snake Range, stress the importance of establishing a national park.

TOURIST FACILITIES AND VISITOR CENTER Two transcontinental
highways: (1) U.S. 6-50 Washington, D. C. to San
Francisco, and (2) U.S. 93 Alaska to Panama, intersect
near Wheeler Peak. In the proposed park, a network of
roads and trails provide easy access to the scenic and
cultural points of interest. Six fully developed camp-
grounds with tables, water, cooking facilities and rest
rooms are available for visitors: (1) Lower Lehman
Creek, (2) Upper Lehman Creek, (3) Wheeler Peak, (4)
Baker Creek, (5) Shoshone, and (6) Snake Creek
as a modern Visitor Center, complete with museum,
auditorium, cafeteria and National Park Service offices.
Staffing of the park would be by university students
from across America through the VIP (Volunteers in Parks)
and SCA (Student Conservation Aid) programs, providing a
relatively inexpensive park operation.

as well

COMPATIBLE LAND USES A national park can be compatible with other land uses. Grazing can be allowed for the lifetime of the permit holders and their heirs. The 571 beef cattle and 2,437 sheep can be grazed on land

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both inside and adjacent to the park. Commercial mining
is nonexistant, and all potential claims can be left
outside the park boundaries. The historic gold mining
areas of Osceola and Hogum, and historic tungsten mining
areas on Highland Ridge, would be unaffected. Oil and
natural gas are not present. Hunting can be maintained
on the Northern Snake Range and Highland Ridge, with
the late season hunt in December or January south of the
park boundary. Forestry like mining, has now become
history. There is presently no commercial timber
industry on the Snake Range. Private land ownership
will continue in perpetuity. Since the amount of such
land is small, private ownership would cause no problem
to either the administration or function of the park.
Fishing and water use are unaffected.

PARK SIZE - Whether a park is 44,000 acres or 129,500 acres, the size is unimportant. The story the park has to tell, and not its area, shape or size, is the most important factor. Examples of some of America's most popular smaller national parks illustrate this point:

(1) Hot Springs (Arkansas) 5,765 acres / 5,236,000
visitors

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Virgin Islands (Caribbean) 14,470 acres / 699,000 visitors

Haleakala (Hawaii) 27,824 acres / 1,194,000 visitors
Wind Cave (South Dakota) 28,060 acres / 477,000
visitors

Bryce Canyon (Utah) 36,010 acres / 737,000 visitors
Acadia (Maine) 36,981 acres / 3,745,000 visitors
Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) 46,755 acres / 732,000
visitors

Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) 51,311 acres / 1,507,000
visitors

MARKET AREAS - Surrounding market areas and cross-country
travelers would supply the new national park with its
clientel. South is (1) Las Vegas and Lake Mead
(3,5000,000) visitors, supported by Los Angeles and the
large Southern California Market Area. West is (2) Reno
and Lake Tahoe, supported by San Francisco and the
important Northern California Market Area. Only a
relatively short distance away are (3) Zion (1,700,000)
and Bryce Canyon (737,000) national parks, geared to
provide a natural travel flow from Delta to Ely, by way
of the potential westward extension of Interstate 70
to Reno, for which $22 billion dollars is in reserve.
Northeast is the (4) Wasatch Front (1,000,000 population)
and gateway to the Atlantic Coast and Midwestern states.
The new park would be the closest land use designation
of this type to Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo - infact,

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closer than any national park in Utah. The last area, the (5) Pacific Northwest, would supply visitors by of Boise and Twin Falls.

THE NEED FOR A GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK

NEED FOR LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION / ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT /
UNITY FOR DEVELOPMENT

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Need to add the Great Basin landscape type to the present national park system.

Need to make Nevada a national park state, for the
protection and interpretation of the Great Basin
landscape.

Need to organize a Great Basin National Park
Association to attract visitors of all ages from
world-wide population centers.

Need to provide the ancient bristlecone pine with
national park status and a listing in the World
Organization of Outstanding Natural Features.
Need to make Ely the hub of the Silver Circle,
providing an introduction to the wide variety of
Great Basin recreational attractions.

Need to make Ely a center for Great Basin studies
based upon research and related environmental
studies.

7. Need to introduce America to Nevada's outdoor attractions such as state parks, wildlife refuges, historical sites and wilderness areas.

II. NEED FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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Provide Nevada with a permanent economic mainstay
a Great Basin National Park - destined to grow in
importance with each succeeding year.

Reverse the population decline in Ely and eastern
Nevada, with the stimulus of a new economic activity.
Provide Nevada and Ely with thousands of dollars of
free advertising through the travel industry such
as tourist agencies, transportation companies and
related industries.

Complete the missing link in the chain of national
parks across America.

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III.

5.

Extend I-70 across central Nevada to Reno,

connect

ing Ely with the Interstate Freeway System, for
which $22 billion dollars has been set aside for
the project.

UNITY OF DEVELOPMENT – Differences of opinions need to be
resolved carefully. One must think through a problem
logically and then do the thing that will benefit the
greatest number of people. If a national park will
give Nevada a new image and a stronger economy, and
provide 250 million Americans with a better way of
life - then a national park is a logical solution.
Mt. Washington and Lincoln Peak, named for our two
greatest presidents, are part of the Great Basin
story. Perhaps this is an omen of greatness for the
future of Nevada's highest mountain as America's newest
national park.

CONCLUSION

Tourism is a stable and growing industry, that will greatly
be inhanced by the creation of a Great Basin National
Park. With 250,000 to 500,000 new visitors annually,
$30 million dollars could be added to Nevada's economy.
Approximately $250,000,000 dollars have been lost
through tourism alone since Senators Alan Bible and
Howard Cannon passed the first Great Basin National
Park Bill through the Senate in 1962. Since 1924, when
Senator Key Pittman proceeded with the first park
legislation, the loss in tourist dollars to Nevada has
been well over $500,000,000 dollars. Education,
recreation, leisure, food, lodging, hiking, camping,
photography and exploring are all part of the national
park scene. Over one-half of the states rank tourism
as their leading industry, most of which have national
parks. If 84 percent of the state's people favor the
establishment of a park, perhaps it is time to let
America know there is a picturesque outdoor Nevada.
Let's share 'the secret, make Wheeler Peak a park.
As one visitor appropriately stated:

"If Wheeler Peak and the contiguous alpine area
had been located in any other part of America,
it would have become a national park many years
ago."