Great Basin National Park

Great Basin National Park is a United States National Park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border. The park was established in 1986. It is most commonly accessed by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U.S. Routes 6 and 50 by Nevada State Route 487 via the small town of Baker, the closest settlement to the park.

The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains. Topographically, this area is known as the Basin and Range Province. The park is located approximately 290 miles (470 km) north of Las Vegas and protects 77,180 acres (31,230 ha).

The park is notable for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest known non-clonal organisms; and for the Lehman Caves at the base of 13,063-foot (3,982 m) Wheeler Peak. President Warren G. Harding created Lehman Caves National Monument by presidential proclamation on January 24, 1922. It was incorporated into the national park on October 27, 1986. There are a number of developed campsites within the park, as well as excellent back country camping opportunities. Adjacent to Great Basin National Park lies the Highland Ridge Wilderness. These two protected areas provide contiguous wildlife habitat and protection to 227.8 square miles (590.0 km2) of eastern Nevada's basin lands.

National park

A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas.

While this type of national park had been proposed previously, the United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use "national park" in its creation legislation was the US's Mackinac Island, in 1875. Australia's Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the world's third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park and national park status was consequently lost. As a result, Australia's Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence.

List of national parks of the United States

The United States has 59 protected areas known as national parks that are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Many current National Parks had been previously protected as National Monuments by the President under the Antiquities Act before being upgraded by Congress. Seven national parks (six in Alaska) are paired with a National Preserve. While administered together, they are considered as separate units and their areas are not included in the figures below. The newest national park is Pinnacles National Park, upgraded in 2013.

National park (disambiguation)

A national park is a reserve of land.

National Park may also refer to:

  • National Park, New Jersey
  • National Park, New Zealand
  • National parks of Scotland
  • National parks of England and Wales
  • National Park (band), a music group from Glasgow, Scotland
  • The National Park (Ramat Gan), an urban park in Ramat Gan, Israel
  • The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), a documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns
  • Nationals Park, the Washington Nationals' baseball field
  • The lands and monuments of the National Park Service of the United States
  • See also

  • Boundary Field, Washington, D.C. (alternate name for National Park)
  • Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. (built on the site of National Park)
  • Podcasts:

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    Latest News for: great basin national park

    5 tallest mountains in Nevada: Where to hike the highest peaks this spring

    Reno Gazette Journal 27 Feb 2025
    The tallest peak in Nevada is Wheeler Peak located in Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada ... If you're looking for a challenge, head to White Pine County in northeastern Nevada, home to Ely and Great Basin National Park.

    LETTER: National Park layoff sob story falls flat

    Las Vegas Review-Journal 27 Feb 2025
    In a Review-Journal article last week, reporter Alan Halaly bemoaned the 20 percent reduction in workforce at Great Basin National Park and quoted the fired employees.

    ‘Utter chaos’: 3 Nevadans recount losing jobs in sweeping federal cuts

    Las Vegas Review-Journal 26 Feb 2025
    Great Basin National Park in Baker lost 20 percent of its staff, or five rangers. A group of National Park Service employees has been anonymously crowdsourcing information about which parks have lost staff.

    More than a dozen NPS workers fired from Lake Mead as part of mass federal workforce purge

    Reno Gazette Journal 25 Feb 2025
    Moran supported archive work for 12 National Park Service sites, including the Death Valley National Park, the Great Basin National Park, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and Tule Springs Fossil Bed.

    HGTV picks the most charming small town in Nevada

    Reno Gazette Journal 25 Feb 2025
    From the outdoor recreation haven of Ely near Great Basin National Park to the intersection of Lake Mead and the Valley of Fire in Overton, Nevada's towns are gateways to unique outdoor recreation, charming getaways and historic buildings ... Hours ... 50.

    Boiling Point: Want to fight climate change? Then talk about climate change

    The Los Angeles Times 25 Feb 2025
    Some visitors to Grand Canyon National Park, meanwhile, endured 1.5-hour wait times to get in. (Washington Post)At Nevada's Great Basin, the search and rescue team is down to one member ... It's not just national parks under threat.

    Lunar eclipse 2025: When is it and where are the best places in Nevada to view it?

    Reno Gazette Journal 24 Feb 2025
    From Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada to the Tonopah Stargazing Park in central Nevada and the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada, the Silver State is full of dark sky destinations to see astronomical events.

    ‘A great thing’: Boulder City takes steps to darken its skies

    Las Vegas Review-Journal 22 Feb 2025
    Massacre Rim Wilderness Area in Washoe County was declared an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2019, and Great Basin National Park in White Pine County was granted the title of an official dark sky park in 2016.

    Depth of federal worker firings unknown in Nevada, but impact already being felt

    Reno Gazette Journal 21 Feb 2025
    The Great Basin ... Liz Woolsey, the wife of the former Great Basin National Park superintendent, runs the Bristlecone General Store and Stargazer Inn near the Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nevada.

    Which Nevada restaurant is the most charming small town eatery, according to Food Network?

    Reno Gazette Journal 21 Feb 2025
    Ely is near Great Basin National Park in northeastern Nevada ... It is less than an hour's drive from Great Basin National Park, famous for Lehman Caves, the oldest living trees on Earth, and renowned stargazing.

    You'll never look at the night sky the same: Why travelers are seeking out astrotourism

    Usatoday 21 Feb 2025
    When she peered through a telescope during Great Basin National Park's astronomy program, she saw her first shooting star ... Gorov's trip to Great Basin has got her hooked on chasing the beauty of the night sky.

    Nevada’s only national park cuts 20% of staff

    The Brunswick News 20 Feb 2025
    The Trump administration’s mass layoffs across ...

    Trump’s public lands policies unpopular among Nevada voters, poll shows

    Las Vegas Review-Journal 20 Feb 2025
    Across all the states, the National Park Service ... On Valentine’s Day, the park service laid off 20 percent of the staff that manages Great Basin National Park, Nevada’s only national park.

    The crisis coming for our national parks, explained in two charts

    Vox 19 Feb 2025
    Over the weekend, Travis Mason-Bushman, an employee at Great Basin National Park in Nevada, wrote on LinkedIn that he lost five colleagues ... These include the wet forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the river and stunning views of Zion.

    Nevada’s only national park cuts 20 percent of staff

    Las Vegas Review-Journal 19 Feb 2025
    The Trump administration’s mass layoffs across federal agencies have reached Great Basin National Park, with 20 percent of park staff fired as a result, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned.
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