September 10, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today made the following statement on the news that Great Basin National Park will be prominently featured as part of the “America the Beautiful” quarters line expected to debut next year and that the park will also be included in an upcoming public television documentary by noted filmmaker Ken Burns.  The new Burns documentary is titled “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”  During his early years in Congress, Reid worked tirelessly to establish Great Basin as Nevada’s first, and still its only, national park.

“One of the first major pieces of legislation I authored in Congress was the law creating Great Basin National Park in 1986.  I am so pleased that this beautiful part of Nevada is getting the national recognition it deserves.  Great Basin National Park features dramatic mountain ranges, our country’s southernmost glacier, rare and ancient bristlecone pine forests, famously dark skies and some of the cleanest air anywhere in America.  I encourage all Nevadans and all Americans to experience this Nevada treasure.”