Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from My Life in Nevada Politics: The Memoirs of Sen. Richard H. Bryan, a book written with Nevada Independent columnist John L. Smith. It is reprinted with permission from the University of Nevada Press. Bryan, a Democrat, served as Nevada governor from 1983 to 1989 and as U.S. Senator from Nevada from 1989 to 2001.

In the aftermath of the 1994 general election, when the Republicans gained control of both the House and the Senate, the Senate became much more partisan and polarized. It was not the institution I had joined in January 1989. 

Moreover, the amount of money required to seek election to the Senate had increased exponentially. Each member of the Democratic caucus was expected to spend some time each week at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters to solicit contributions. It was referred to as “dialing for dollars.”

I began to think that this may be the time for me to step down. Several thoughts raced through my mind. I was losing contact with longtime friends, some of whom I had known since childhood. 

Even though Bonnie and I came back to Nevada almost every weekend, our weekends were filled with constituent appointments and attending community events. Our friends and their lives moved on without us. 

Another event in my life was that my children had married, and grandchildren were on the way. Although I was not a neglectful father, I missed much of their childhood because of my nonstop public life schedule. From evening meetings to long absences during legislative sessions, I was absent from home a lot. 

With grandkids on the way, I thought, perhaps I could get a mulligan. I recognized that having grandchildren would give me a last opportunity to experience some of the joys that I had missed with my own children.

Another factor played into my mind. Although I was in good health and remain in good health, my father had died at the age of 52 from prostate cancer. I was 62, and I was aware of the passage of time.

I discussed this with Bonnie, of course. She loved her life in D.C., and her preference was for me to run for re-election. As always, she was supportive of my decision. I understood where she was coming from. I thought my prospects for re-election were good, but for me the time was right to step down.

Like Alan Bible and Paul Laxalt before me, I wanted to make my announcement early so that those who sought my seat would have plenty of opportunity to make their own Senate runs. The Clinton impeachment hearings delayed that timetable.

So, within a few days after the impeachment hearings had concluded, with a tearful Bonnie at my side and joined by my brother and sister and daughter Leslie, I announced on the steps of my alma mater, Las Vegas High School, my decision not to seek re-election. 

The reaction was one of complete surprise. I think some of my staff must have gotten an inkling of my intention because I had postponed various campaign initiatives such as setting up a campaign headquarters and organizing the campaign structure and team.

But the media was caught flatfooted. I remember calling reporter Jane Ann Morrison of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and telling her that she might want to get down to Las Vegas High School because I would be making a newsworthy announcement. She later told me that she could not have been more surprised.

The frontpage headline in the Review-Journal the following day said it all: “Bryan Coming Home.”

I had 11 months left in office, and there was work left to do. How many times over the years I had heard many constituents comment, “You guys come around only at election time.” 

In my case, that was not true. After announcing my decision, I maintained the same pace, scheduling weekend appointments and spending most of the summer recess holding town hall meetings and attending traditional events in rural Nevada.

I got a measure of satisfaction when people approached me, quizzically wondering aloud, “Why are you here? You’re not running for re-election.”

My response was always the same: “I’m still your senator, and there’s still much that remains to be done.”

Call it a good day at Black Rock. My final legislative accomplishment in the Senate was the creation of the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It remains an accomplishment of which I have always been very proud.

Bob Griffin would have been proud, too. It was at his insistence that I see the rugged beauty and historical significance of the place for myself during my time as governor. Joining the Senate put me in position to give the area the protected designation it richly deserved. He would have loved the creation of the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon as a national conservation area.

Not everyone was thrilled by the prospect. The legislation was opposed by Nevada’s rural counties, and none more vociferous than the city council of Winnemucca in Humboldt County. The only support that I had for the proposed national conservation area was from Clark and Washoe counties. It would be my swan song, and the legislation was enacted in my last year as a member of the Senate.

The legislation protected a significant part of the Applegate-Lassen Trail in the High Rock country. At the time, it was the largest national conservation area in the country. Brent Heberlee, my legislative director, made sure my bill was included in the omnibus public lands bill that was certain to be enacted. Without his skillful navigation, it is highly doubtful that my Black Rock legislation would have been included in the omnibus bill.

An irony lay ahead. The year after I had left the Senate, I received a call from one of the loudest critics of the conservation area plan, a Winnemucca city councilman whom I’d known from my university days. He had been adamantly opposed to the federal designation, but he now noticed it was boosting the economy by attracting more visitors to the area. 

He began by requesting, although I was no longer in the Senate, my assistance in helping to get the City of Winnemucca designated as the “Eastern Gateway to the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Conservation Area.” A Winnemucca bed-and-breakfast owner who had been one of the plan’s most vocal detractors revised her business brochure to include a passage that promoted her business “in the heart of Nevada’s newest conservation area.” As comedian Jackie Gleason used to say, “How sweet it is!”

As I reflect on my long career in public office, I am reminded of all those who came before me and of those intrepid characters who went West through the Black Rock Desert and during a pause along the way to their destiny took time to make their mark on a timeless wall in an all but nameless place. 

In my own way, I’d like to think that I, too, made my mark in my own life’s journey.