Cortez Masto Celebrates Re-Opening of Lehman Caves, 40th Anniversary of Great Basin National Park

 ***VIDEO AVAILABLE***

Remarks and b-roll are available here.

Baker, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) attended the ribbon cutting for the restored Lehman Caves and the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Great Basin National Park’s original dedication as a national park. She joined Great Basin National Park Superintendent Ashley Adams, Great Basin National Park Foundation Executive Director Aviva O’Neil, and representatives from the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA) Division of the Bureau of Land Management.

Senator Cortez Masto is a champion of Nevada’s travel and tourism industry. Cortez Masto has condemned a proposal to increase national park entry fees for non-residents and international visitors and has introduced legislation to codify fee-free days on federal lands. Her guest at this year’s State of the Union address was Liz Woolsey, a small business owner from Baker, Nevada who relies on tourism to Great Basin National Park for her livelihood. Earlier this year, the Senator passed her bipartisan resolution to honor places across the United States, including Great Basin National Park, where the lack of light pollution creates a dark night sky prime for stargazing. The Senator has also worked to push for the creation of national monuments at sites significant to tribal communities, like at Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.

Read her remarks as delivered:

It is an exciting time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Great Basin National Park. That’s amazing!

I’m third generation Nevadan. And I will tell you, the first time I came to Lehman Caves, I was in the sixth grade. And then later, as an adult, I was able to come back here.

And it is true, you see something different every time. And think about what we are going to be able to see now with the new lighting system. Over 15 miles of cable, that’s incredible.

It is a pleasure for me as the United States Senator of this great state – a state that I love – to be able to be a part of it. [It is a joy ] to be able to be a part of not only continuing to preserve our great outdoors and our national parks, really the jewel of outdoor recreation that we have in Nevada, and to open it up for others who want to experience it as well.

I think that is so important…The superintendent talked about staff and about 160,000 visitors every year [to Great Basin National Park]. That’s about, just to the White Pine County alone, that’s about $15.4 million annually. And if we think about its contributions to the state, in economic output, it’s double that. So there is a benefit to us in the state to continue to preserve and promote what we have to offer here in Nevada.

Listen, this is one of the many – there’s incredible things to see here in the state – but Great Basin Park is one for me that I will continue to fight for.

I have spent so much time here. My family has – my father. Everybody has a story here if you spend any time. And they’re wonderful memories. And I think everybody should have that memory to carry with them. And it is important to continue to preserve it.

I also know how important the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, affectionately known as SNPLMA to everyone, is to our state. It really is. And this is where our federal partnership comes in. This is where our federal partners come in and fight for that funding so that we can do things just like this based on the incredible resources we have in the state of Nevada, and we share it throughout Nevada. We share it with Utah. And some of it, believe it or not, is shared in California around Lake Tahoe. This is the benefit we have here in Nevada, working with so many incredible partners.

I can’t walk away without mentioning the fact that we have all of this and the ability to utilize it, because we have incredible staff at the National Park Service. We really do. And we have to continue to fight for them to make sure our parks adequately staffed for the incredible people that we know that work here every single day to support them, and they have the resources that they need. But we also have to keep our national parks safe for tourists and visitors who come here – and make sure it’s not trashed. Make sure tourists know how to responsibly recreate. But as you all know, that takes people – people that are committed and passionate about what they do, who believe in lifelong careers. And for me, it is worth fighting for them to make sure that they have the salaries they need, they’re adequately staffed, and they have the budget.

In 2023, the budget for this Great Basin National Park, believe it or not, was only $3 million. $3 million and it’s still being cut. That’s crazy. Think about the money that’s leveraged from just that small amount to what our economic output is and [how it creates] the ability to recreate here, for Americans or international travelers. It’s a multiplier, and it is worth fighting for that and worth continuing to support so many businesses who directly or indirectly rely on it.

Look at Baker and all the incredible businesses there that rely on that tourism coming through. I know Liz at the Stargazer Inn and Bristlecone General Store. We talk regularly about the impact that we’re seeing here. We’ve got to continue to fight to ensure that people know that our doors are open. We want them to come here. We want the ability to not only service them but generate that economic impact for our state.

I will tell you, as a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I am proud to sit on it and I fought to sit it on it because we have oversight over the Department of Interior and so many other federal agencies that impact Nevada. We continue to fight for this funding and fight to ensure that this SNPLMA money stays where it needs to be, right here, so it can support us in Nevada, in Utah, and in California. This is worth fighting for in Nevada and for me, as a third-generation Nevadan who has cut my teeth growing up in this community, we will continue to do so.

And we need friends and others. And as we see a younger generation coming through here, and more so as we continue to grow – and our tribal communities continue to be great partners with us – we can make it happen. We really can, working together. So, I am pleased to be here. I’m looking forward to the tour. But most importantly, I – believe it or not – I am looking forward to bringing my family back here as well so they can experience this and have an opportunity to make wonderful memories like we all have.

So, thank you to everyone that has participated today.

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