YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Brian Sandoval says Nevada's newest state park is "a slice of Nevada heaven."
Sandoval hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at the Walker River State Recreation Area outside Yerington
The park along 28 miles of the picturesque Walker River is on 12,000 acres that made up three historic ranches about 80 miles southeast of Reno.
It's the first time in a century it will be open to kayakers, canoes and fishermen who long have regarded that stretch of river one of Nevada's best trout streams.
The Walker River Conservancy purchased and deeded the land to the state, a gift Sandoval valued at $8 million.
Jeff Bryant of the conservancy told the Nevada Appeal they actually paid "upward of $30 million" for the land primarily to obtain water rights to help restore Walker Lake.