Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead National Recreation Area
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location	Mohave County, Arizona & Clark County, Nevada, USA
Nearest city	Las Vegas, Nevada
Coordinates	36°00′35″N 114°47′48″W
Area	1,495,665.69 acres (605,274 ha)
Established	October 13, 1936
Visitors	7,946,830 (in 2009)
Governing body	National Park Service, Department of the Interior

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is located in southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The centerpieces of the National Recreation Area are its two large reservoirs: Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. These lakes cater to boaters, swimmers, sunbathers, and fishermen while the surrounding desert rewards hikers, wildlife photographers, and roadside sightseers. Three of America's four desert ecosystems — the Mojave desert, the Great Basin desert, and the Sonoran Desert — meet in Lake Mead NRA. As a result, this seemingly barren area contains a surprising variety of plants and animals, some of which may be found nowhere else in the world.

Rock formations near Echo Bay

Originally called Boulder Dam Recreation Area, it was managed under a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation dating from October 13, 1936. The name was changed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area on August 11, 1947. On October 8, 1964, Congress passed enabling legislation (Public Law 88-639) officially creating Lake Mead National Recreation Area as a park in the national park system. The law directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer the area "...for general purposes of public recreation, benefit, and use, and in a manner that will preserve, develop, and enhance, so far as practicable, the recreation potential, and in a manner that will preserve the scenic, historic, scientific, and other important features of the area..."

About 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of the recreation area are managed separately under the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, proclaimed in 2000. Water covers about 186,000 acres (75,000 ha) of the recreation area.

Lake Mead from the Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1935 creating Lake Mead, is located within Lake Mead NRA. Tours of the dam and the Hoover Dam Visitor Center are managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

Park resources

Satellite image of Lake Mead

• 900 plant species
• 500 animal species
• 25 threatened or endangered species
• Nine designated wilderness areas (185,000 acres (75,000 ha))
• 1.8 million years of geological occurrences
• 10,000 years of human presence
• Nevada’s first Traditional Cultural Property

Fish species

• Largemouth Bass
• Striped Bass
• Crappie
• Sunfish
• Catfish (Channel)
• Carp

Visitation

For 2009, Lake Mead National Recreation Area was the 5th most visited national park.

Calendar Year	Annual Visits Total	Cumulative Visits
1937	552,128	552,128
1938	533,914	1,086,042	-18,214	-3.30%
1939	649,624	1,735,666	+115,710	+21.67%
1940	668,027	2,403,693	+18,403	+2.83%
1941	844,733	3,248,426	+176,706	+26.45%
1942	338,778	3,587,204	-505,955	-59.90%
1943	214,190	3,801,394	-124,588	-36.78%
1944	263,533	4,064,927	+49,343	+23.04%
1945	587,436	4,652,363	+323,903	+122.91%
1946	1,165,369	5,817,732	+577,933	+98.38%
1947	1,426,831	7,244,563	+261,462	+22.44%
1948	1,654,004	8,898,567	+227,173	+15.92%
1949	1,423,552	10,322,119	-230,452	-13.93%
1950	1,798,280	12,120,399	+374,728	+26.32%
1951	2,053,619	14,174,018	+255,339	+14.20%
1952	1,946,706	16,120,724	-106,913	-5.21%
1953	2,220,940	18,341,664	+274,234	+14.09%
1954	2,112,724	20,454,388	-108,216	-4.87%
1955	2,675,371	23,129,759	+562,647	+26.60%
1956	2,672,774	25,802,533	-2,597	-0.10%
1957	2,955,257	28,757,790	+282,483	+10.57%
1958	3,190,580	31,948,370	+235,323	+7.96%
1959	3,390,574	35,338,944	+199,994	+6.27%
1960	2,254,185	37,593,129	-1,136,389	-33.50%
1961	2,219,960	39,813,089	-34,225	-1.50%
1962	2,688,745	42,501,834	+468,785	+21.10%
1963	3,349,565	45,851,399	+660,820	+24.60%
1964	3,462,580	49,313,979	+113,015	+3.40%
1965	3,594,065	52,908,044	+131,485	+3.80%
1966	3,720,485	56,628,529	+126,420	+3.50%
1967	4,102,335	60,730,864	+381.85	+10.30%
1968	4,751,795	65,482,659	+649,460	+15.80%
1969	5,614,940	71,097,599	+863,145	+18.20%
1970	4,897,135	75,994,734	-717,805	-12.80%
1971	4,570,229	80,564,963	-326,906	-6.70%
1972	4,888,640	85,453,599	+318,407	+6.90%
1973	5,534,315	90,987,914	+645,679	+13.20%
1974	5,939,533	96,927,447	+405,218	+7.32%
1975	6,219,220	103,146,667	+279,687	+4.70%
1976	6,948,611	110,095,278	+729,391	+11.72%
1977	6,529,848	116,625,126	-418,763	-6.00%
1978	6,879,870	123,504,996	+350.022	+5.30%
1979	6,378,341	129,883,337	-501,529	-7.30%
1980	5,145,699	135,029,036	-1,232,642	-19.30%
1981	5,406,184	140,435,220	+260,485	+0.05%
1982	5,565,467	146,000,687	+159,283	+3.00%
1983	6,128,254	152,128,941	+562,787	+10.10%
1984	6,504,206	158,633,147	+375,952	+6.10%
1985	7,204,295	165,837,442	+700,089	+10.70%
1986	8,034,542	173,871,984	+830,247	+11.50%
1987	8,392,419	182,264,403	+357,877	+4.50%
1988	8,629,895	190,894,298	+237,476	+2.83%
1989	8,803,414	199,697,712	+173,519	+2.00%
1990	8,893,495	208,591,207	+90.081	+1.02%
1991	8,751,312	217,342,519	-142,183	-1.59%
1992	9,343,549	226,686,068	+592,237	+6.80%
1993	9,265,520	235,951,588	-78,029	-0.84%
1994	9,913,705	245,865,293	+648,185	+7.00%
1995	10,195,546	256,060,839	+281,841	+2.85%
1996	9,689,997	265,750,836	-505,549	-4.96%
1997	8,837,742	274,588,578	-852,255	-8.80%
1998	9,106,793	283,695,371	+269,051	+3.00%
1999	9,351,237	293,046,608	+244,444	+2.68%
2000	9,072,545	302,119,153	-278,692	-3.00%
2001	8,772,589	310,891,742	-299,956	-3.31%
2002	7,824,128	318,715,870	-948,461	-10.81%
2003	8,202,677	326,918,545	+378,547	+4.84%
2004	8,103,609	335,022,154	-99,066	-1.21%
2005	7,971,437	342,993,591	-132,172	-1.63%
2006	8,059,850	351,053,441	+88,413	+1.11%
2007	7,898,592	358,952,033	-161,258	-2.00%
2008	7,877,581	366,829,614	-21,011	-0.27%
2009	7,946,830	374,776,444	+69,249	+0.88%

External links

• National Park Service: Lake Mead National Recreation Area
• Bureau of Reclamation: Hoover Dam
• Arizona Boating Locations Facilities Map
• Arizona Fishing Locations Map
• Where to Fish in Arizona Species Information
• Arizona Lake Levels