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Sumner Lake State Park is a
state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
in
De Baca County, New Mexico De Baca County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,022, making it New Mexico's second-least populous county. Its county seat is Fort Sumner. The county is named for Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca, ...
, United States, located on the eastern plains about northwest of
Fort Sumner Fort Sumner was a military fort in New Mexico Territory charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863 to 1868 at nearby Bosque Redondo. History On October 31, 1862, Congress authorized the construction of For ...
. The park features a large reservoir on the
Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexic ...
, created in 1939 by the Sumner Dam of the
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 ...
. The reservoir is home to various fish species including
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, ...
,
catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...
,
crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis' ...
and
walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...
. The park elevation is above sea level. With its campground, expansive views of the sky, and its distance from other cities, Sumner Lake State Park has a low level of light pollution, which makes the state park a great potential place for amateur astronomy.


Animals

The park is home to the Sandia hairstreak (''Callophrys mcfarlandi''), New Mexico's state butterfly. About 50 other species of butterflies have been identified in the park.


Flora

One-seed juniper,
honey mesquite ''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern M ...
, and spiny cholla dominate the landscape of the park.


References


External links


Sumner Lake State Park
{{authority control State parks of New Mexico Parks in De Baca County, New Mexico Protected areas established in 1966