Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area that encompasses the long

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (also called Lake Roosevelt) is the reservoir created in 1941 by the impoundment of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. It is named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was president during the con ...

between

Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerho ...

and Northport, Washington, in eastern

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. The Grand Coulee Dam was built on the Columbia River in 1941 as part of the

Columbia River Basin The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It covers . In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin t ...

project. Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a unit of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

and provides opportunities for fishing, swimming, canoeing, boating, hunting, camping, and visiting historic Fort Spokane and St. Paul's Mission. Crescent Bay Lake in Grant County just southwest of Lake Roosevelt also falls under the jurisdiction of the National Recreation Area. Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam - Eastern Washington State - USA

Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam - Eastern Washington State - USA

It was established in 1946 as the Coulee Dam Recreational Area and renamed for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1997. It was created by a memorandum of agreement with the

Spokane Tribe The Spokan or Spokane people are a Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day Washington state and parts of northern Idaho in the United States of America. The current Spokane Indian Reservation is located in ...

Colville Indian Reservation The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the northwest United States, in north central Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established ...

, and

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

and has, uniquely with

Curecanti National Recreation Area Curecanti National Recreation Area(Pronounced (locally) or .) is a National Park Service unit located on the Gunnison River in western Colorado. Established in 1965, Curecanti National Recreation Area is responsible for developing and managing r ...

, never been established by Congress or the president.

History

* St. Paul's Mission was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

mission church established in the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

(HBC) in the 1830s. The mission was built near the HBC's

Fort Colville Fort Colville was a U.S. Army post in the Washington Territory located north of current Colville, Washington. During its existence from 1859 to 1882, it was called "Harney's Depot" and "Colville Depot" during the first two years, and finally " ...

, on the bluff then overlooking

Kettle Falls Kettle Falls ( Salish: Shonitkwu, meaning "roaring or noisy waters", also Schwenetekoo translated as "Keep Sounding Water") was an ancient and important salmon fishing site on the upper reaches of the Columbia River, in what is today the U.S. ...

on the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

. * Fort Spokane was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

frontier outpost in Lincoln County,

. Located at the confluence of the

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

and

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

rivers, it separated the Colville and

tribes from

. The fort was closed in 1929. *

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian Reservation, which is located in northeastern Washington, United States. It is the government for its people. The Confederate T ...

is in north central

* Spokane Tribe of Indians is in northeastern Washington, centered at

Wellpinit Wellpinit is an unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, United States. Wellpinit has a post office with ZIP code 99040. It is the setting of the young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. ...

.Spokane Tribe Language and Culture
/ref> The reservation is located almost entirely in Stevens County, but also includes two small parcels of land (totaling about ) in Lincoln County, including part of the

Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...

Things to Do

*Boating, Canoe & Kayak – 22 public boat launches, plus 4 available to non-members on the Colville Reservation, by permit. *Camping – 3 Standard campgrounds, 9 Boat-in campgrounds *Fishing *Swimming

References

External links

Lake Roosevelt NRA
*
Park foundation document

Visitation statistics
National Park Service National Recreation Areas National Park Service areas in Washington (state) Protected areas of Ferry County, Washington Protected areas of Grant County, Washington Protected areas of Lincoln County, Washington Protected areas of Stevens County, Washington Parks in Washington (state) National parks in Washington (state) Canoeing and kayaking venues in the United States 1946 establishments in Washington (state) Protected areas established in 1946 {{US-NationalParkService-stub