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John Muir, the father of America’s national parks, traveled all over the world, from the granite peaks of Yosemite to the teeming reefs of Australia. But it was after exploring the Great Basin of Nevada that he wrote, “Nowhere may you meet with more varied and delightful surprises than in the byways and recesses of this sublime wilderness.”

As we mark Nevada Public Lands Day, we’re reminded that our public lands belong to the people — all of the people. Today, the Bureau of Land Management manages about 48 million acres of public lands in the Silver State, prime terrain for hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, skiing, and nearly every other imaginable outdoor activity. Thanks to the Forest Service, anyone can visit Mount Rose or the Ruby Mountain Wilderness Areas. The National Parks Service allows us to see parts of Great Basin the same way John Muir saw it 150 years ago.

Yet a century and a half later, we’re still fighting to preserve that sublime wilderness — and right now, we’re losing the battle. The Trump Administration has stripped more than 13.5 million acres of protections, the most dramatic shrinking of public lands in American history. Here in Nevada, more than 23 million acres of public lands are at risk of losing their protection.