Lake Mendocino is a large
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in
Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah.
Mendocino County consists whol ...
, northeast of
Ukiah. It covers
and was formed by the construction of Coyote Valley Dam in 1958. The lake and
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
provide
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
, water conservation,
hydroelectric power, and recreation.
The dam also includes a fallout shelter built during the
Cold War era to protect against the radiation from nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union.
Recreation
Lake Mendocino is administered by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
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, commander1 = ...
and offers
disc golf,
boating,
water skiing
Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...
,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
,
camping
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more na ...
, and
hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
.
There are 300+ campsites plus a small number of boat-in only sites. Three groups of campsites are named in the
Pomo
The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small ...
language of the local native people.
There are two boat ramps, at the north and south ends of the lake, and use for watersports is permitted. The lake also has numerous day use and picnic areas. Several hiking trails traverse the length of the lake.
The
California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, commonly referred to as OEHHA (pronounced oh-EEE-ha), is a specialized department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency ( CalEPA) with responsibility for evaluatin ...
(OEHHA) has developed a safe eatin
advisoryfor Lake Mendocino based on levels of mercury found in fish caught from this water body.
Coyote Dam
Coyote Dam (or Coyote Valley Dam) is an
earthen dam
An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface an ...
high, long, and wide, with a total volume of . It was built as a flood control project by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
, battles =
, battles_label = Wars
, website =
, commander1 = ...
. Completed in 1959, it sits across the
East Fork Russian River
East Fork Russian River is a long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility.
It forms in the north of P ...
, which is the primary source of inflow to the lake.
The dam offers public access by foot. The purpose of the dam was to prevent flooding in the Ukiah valley, and provide a water supply for Sonoma county. During the Cold War it served as a fallout shelter in the case of a nuclear attack, which remains today at the dam with a radioactive symbol. There is also an hydroelectric dam controlled by the army corps of engineers including flood supply, which provides energy for the surrounding cities.
Coyote Valley
Beneath the surface of the lake lies the old Coyote Valley. With the construction of the dam, the Army Corps had to relocate the residents of the valley, along with a short portion of
State Route 20 which was subsequently inundated.
See also
*
Lake Sonoma
Lake Sonoma is a reservoir west of Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County, California, created by the construction of Warm Springs Dam. Access from U.S. Route 101 is by way of Canyon Road (from the south) from Geyserville, or Dutcher Creek Road (fr ...
*
List of dams and reservoirs in California
*
List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupie ...
References
External links
*
Lake Mendocino Fishing*
Lake Mendocino Water Supply Levels
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