Daniel Wassmund’s first day working at Pitchfork Ranch involved nine hours of tumbleweed clearing in the ranch house yard.

He loved every minute of it and has loved just about every day since on the ranch.

That’s because the ranch is at the heart of Walker River State Recreation Area, one of only two new Nevada state parks in the past two decades.

Wassmund, a Nevada State Parks ranger assigned to Walker River, was looking forward to working at the park since he first laid eyes on the East Walker River south of Yerington long before it became a state park.

The son of a California State Parks Ranger, Wassmund described driving dirt roads over the Sweetwater Mountains from Bodie State Historic Park near Bridgeport, Calif., and into the remote desert valley that would become his home.

“One minute you think you are lost in the desert, and then you are in a lush, pristine river corridor,” Wassmund said. “I have loved every park I’ve worked at, but this is my favorite so far.”

Wassmund was among those on hand Wednesday to celebrate the park’s opening. After 20 years without a new state park Nevada celebrated the opening of two parks in one week, Walker River near Yerington and Ice Age Fossil State Park near Las Vegas.

The Walker River park includes nearly 30 miles of river corridor and 12,000 acres of land. Segments of the park will open over time as they’re developed.

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The land was formerly part of four historic ranches, the Pitchfork, Rafter 7, Flying M and Nine Mile. Currently, the Pitchfork and part of the Nine Mile are open to the public.

The ranch land became available after the Walker Basin Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group seeking to restore Walker Lake, bought the properties from private owners.

Their goal was to secure water rights from the ranches in order to return more water to the Walker River, which flows into Walker Lake.

After making the purchase, however, the group gave the land to the state for a new park.

The decision to make the gift, estimated to be worth about $8 million, meant that thousands of acres of scenic, desert and riparian ranchland would be open to the public after being off-limits and in private hands for more than a century.

“This place has been inaccessible to the public for 125 years,” said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who made creating the park a priority of his second, and final, term as governor by including $5.8 million in the state budget for its development.

“You would have had to have been John Fremont to have had access to this,” said Sandoval, referencing the prolific explorer who traveled extensively in Nevada and throughout the west in the 19th century.

Although the park will start hosting campers beginning Friday, it’s still a work in progress.

On Wednesday workers were still putting finishing touches on campsites at the Pitchfork Ranch. And the Flying M Ranch won’t open to the public until after the death of Barron Hilton, the former owner who retained a life lease on the property.

Hilton, a scion of the Hilton hotels family and aviation enthusiast, has used the ranch to host flying competitions for wealthy and famous aviators. In 2007 the ranch was the departure site for the final flight of aviator Steve Fossett. That flight ended with a fatal crash in the Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Although the celebrity past of the Flying M Ranch is an attention grabber for the new park, its highlight is the East Walker River.

The stretch in the park, particularly at the south end near an area called the Elbow, is known for fly fishing.

Park officials are also using signage and constructed access points to encourage people to float the river in kayaks or canoes.

The park and surrounding public land are also home to wildlife such as deer, mountain lions and migrating birds.

“Just when you think you have seen it all, you stumble onto something new, something beautiful and something amazing,” said Jeff Bryant, executive director of the Walker Basin Conservancy.

The acquisition of the rights to send more water to Walker Lake while creating new public access to the river will be “one of the great restoration stories of the American west,” Bryant said.