Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Location	Clark County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona, United States
Nearest city	Boulder City and Las Vegas, Nevada
Coordinates	36°00′35″N 114°47′48″W / 36.00972°N 114.79667°W
Area	1,495,806 acres (6,053.31 km2)
Established	October 13, 1936; 87 years ago
Visitors	5,578,226 (in 2022)
Governing body	Department of the Interior (DOI); National Park Service (NPS)
Website	Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Grand Canyon National Park to just north of the cities of Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona. It includes all of the eponymous Lake Mead as well as the smaller Lake Mohave – reservoirs on the river created by Hoover Dam and Davis Dam, respectively – and the surrounding desert terrain and wilderness.^[4]

Formation of Lake Mead began in 1935, less than a year before Hoover Dam was completed.^[4] The area surrounding Lake Mead was protected as a bird refuge in 1933^[5] and later established as the Boulder Dam Recreation Area in 1936^[6] and the name was changed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1947.^[7] In 1964, the area was expanded to include Lake Mohave and its surrounding area and became the first National Recreation Area to be designated as such by the U.S. Congress.^[8]

Amenities

Lake Mead NRA features water recreation, including boating, swimming, and fishing, on both lakes as well as the stretches of river between the lakes. It also features hiking trails and views of the surrounding desert landscape.^[9] Three of the four desert ecosystems found in the United States — the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin Desert, and the Sonoran Desert — meet in Lake Mead NRA. Tours of Hoover Dam – administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – are also a major attraction within the recreation area.^[8]^[10]

About 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) of the recreation area are managed separately under the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, established in 2000.^[11] Water covers about 186,000 acres (75,000 ha) of the recreation area.^[12]

The ghost town of St. Thomas, Nevada is contained entirely within Lake Mead NRA. The town, once entirely submerged beneath Lake Mead, features a two-mile-long loop trail with interpretative signage. It is accessed near the Northshore Entrance Station, just south of Overton.

Wilderness areas

There are currently nine officially designated wilderness areas under the National Wilderness Preservation System lying within Lake Mead National Recreation Area. All are in the Nevada portion. Parts of some of these wildernesses (as indicated) lie outside Lake Mead NRA and are managed by the Bureau of Land Management:^[13]

Park resources

900 plant species
500 animal species
24 rare and threatened species
- The relict leopard frog (Lithobates onca) is now believed to survive only in this area.^[14]
9 designated wilderness areas
122,166 museum objects and archives
1,347 recorded archeological sites
23 historic structures
8 listed National Register Properties
2 Traditional Cultural Properties^[8]

Fish species

Lakes Mead and Mohave offer some of the country’s best sport fishing. The following species are found in both lakes:^[8]

Visitation

For 2012, with 6.3 million recreational visits, Lake Mead National Recreation Area was the 5th most visited national park.^[8]

Calendar Year	Annual Visits Total	Cumulative Visits
1936
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%
2010
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