Valley of Fire

Why should it be a National Park?

World-renowned for its 40,000 acres of colorful sandstone features and powerful connections to native history, Valley of Fire contains ancient rock formations, petrified trees, and petroglyphs dating back thousands of years. The natural landscape consists primarily of red sandstone buttes and oddities amidst large, yellow limestone outcroppings. However, the park features a rainbow hue of patterns and formations. Each trail and overlook provides a unique way to experience the setting. The rocks date to the Jurassic period and are the remnant of sands left behind by the wind after inland seas subsided and the land rose. Over time, the muds of the drying seas cemented into the colorful layers seen today.

Valley of Fire already feels like a National Park, except in designation. It's off the beaten track, has numerous trails and overlooks, and showcases a wide array of sites to visit. It became the state's first state park for a reason; It is an unquestionable natural wonder. It deserves greater recognition and further expansion. A possible designation as a National Park could provide all of that and give Nevada its second park after the establishment of Great Basin National Park in 1986. Nevada has kept it intact, and that is a foundation rather than an obstacle. The state took the land by patent in 1931 and made it Nevada's first state park in 1935, and what it has protected since would rank with anything in the system.