Floras Lake is a natural body of water on the southern

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

of the United States. Fed by four small tributaries from a basin of about in Curry County, it lies about north of Port Orford and west of

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

. It was probably named for Fred Flora, a 19th-century settler and miner who lived nearby. The lake, with a mean elevation of about above sea level, empties north into Floras Creek, where the combined streams form the New River. The river flows north behind a

foredune A foredune is a dune ridge that runs parallel to the shore of an ocean, lake, bay, or estuary. Foredunes consist of sand deposited by wind on a vegetated part of the shore. Foredunes can be classified generally as ''incipient'' or ''established'' ...

until veering west and entering the Pacific Ocean through a break in the dune. Relatively remote, the lake and the Floras Lake State Natural Area, can be reached on foot from the south along a trail that begins at Cape Blanco Airport. More common is to approach by car on Floras Lake Road off U.S. Route 101. This leads to Boice–Cope County Park, at the northeastern corner of the lake. The area near the lake, between Bandon to the north and Cape Blanco to the south, includes many state, federal, and county parks, recreation areas, and wildlife sanctuaries. Among those are the New River

Area of Critical Environmental Concern Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is a conservation ecology program in the Western United States, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ACEC program was conceived in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FL ...

(ACEC), overseen by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

north of the lake and west of the county park. The county park, which has campsites and day-use facilities, offers access to the New River ACEC as well as the lake.

Recreation

Sailboarding Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, especially for beginners because of the lake environment and wind conditions, is popular at Floras Lake. Boice–Cope County Park provides a boat ramp for sport fishing at the lake, which is stocked with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

and supports a small population of

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

. It is also part of the migratory route for

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

and other seagoing fish on their way to and from the lake's feeder streams. The Floras Lake Trail, one of the four trails in the New River ACEC, connects the county park to the Floras Lake State Natural Area. About long, it passes between the lake and the foredune on the west. The beach west of the foredune is part of a stretch of sand between Bandon and Cape Blanco named part of the

Oregon Coast Trail The Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) is a long-distance hiking route along the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon in the United States. It follows the coast of Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River to the California border south of Brooking ...

by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. Canoers and kayakers can launch at Floras Lake and float down the outlet and down New River to a takeout at the ACEC's Storm Ranch, a trip of about , or an ACEC takeout at Lower Fourmile Road, a mile further downstream.

References

{{Authority control Lakes of Oregon Lakes of Curry County, Oregon

Recreation

See also

References