Roger Scholl, Board Chair for Friends of Nevada Wilderness, shared: “I am deeply saddened at the passing of Senator Harry Reid, truly a one-of-a-kind champion for the people of Nevada and the Nation. My thoughts go out to his beloved Landra and his family. I have always appreciated the many, many things he accomplished for Nevada and the Nation. Senator Reid, consistently effective at what he did, won the grudging admiration of even Nevada adversaries.

“I have been truly blessed by our years of shared devotion to preserving wild places in Nevada, starting while he was in the House of Representatives in the 1980s. Senator Reid loved the land of Nevada from arid deserts to towering 13,000-foot mountains. His devotion, skill and tenacity over decades led to adding sixty-nine Wilderness Areas to Nevada’s original one. He also secured protection for Great Basin National Park (pictured), the Sloan Canyon and Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Areas, the Tule Springs Fossil Beds, Gold Butte and Basin and Range National Monuments. He leaves a magnificent legacy of protected areas in Nevada for all future generations.”

Bart Koehler, a long-time senior advisor to Friends of Nevada Wilderness remembers his time working with Senator Reid: “It was truly an honor and joyful adventure to have worked closely with him and his most excellent staff to secure a lasting legacy of Wilderness Areas and other conservation designations across Nevada. We succeeded with our bedrock grassroots team efforts because of Harry's fearless and undaunted leadership, dogged determination and devotion to protecting the wild wide-open spaces of Nevada. Today we continue our quests for more Wilderness inspired by Harry's tremendous track record. There is work to be done in the spirit of the fact that ‘there's no place like Nevada.’ It is our way to honor Harry and his generous actions on behalf of Wild Nevada.”

Marge Sill, one of the founding members of Friends of Nevada Wilderness shared a December 2nd birthday with the Senator. While she too has passed on, we will always remember them sending each other birthday messages and notes of encouragement.

Senator Reid, we will miss you. Thank you for all you have done for Nevada, on behalf of the Friends Board of Directors and Staff.