The Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area is a United States

National Recreation Area A national recreation area (NRA) is a protected area in the United States established by an Act of Congress to preserve enhanced recreational opportunities in places with significant natural and scenic resources. There are 40 NRAs, which emphasiz ...

in northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

.NFS: Shasta-Trinity NRA
. accessed 1.4.2014. The recreation area was authorized in 1965 by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. Recreational activities available include

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

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 ...

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

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 nat ...

, 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 ...

. The Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area (WST-NRA) has a total of of land, which is divided into the Shasta, Trinity, and Whiskeytown Units. The

Shasta–Trinity National Forest The Shasta–Trinity National Forests are federally designated forests in northern California, United States. Combined, they are the largest National Forest in California and are managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The 2,210,485 acre (894,552 ...

surrounds the Shasta and Trinity units, so they are managed by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

. 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 propertie ...

manages the Whiskeytown unit.NPS: Whiskeytown NRA
. accessed 1.4.2014 Each of the units encompasses 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 ...

(man-made lake) and its surrounding natural features,

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, and terrain. The WST-NRA has interesting wildlife viewing opportunities, including over sixty pairs of

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

, thirty pairs of nesting

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

s, other resident and migrating birds, and deer and bear populations.

Plant communities A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant co ...

include

Riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

, Interior chaparral,

Blue oak ''Quercus douglasii'', known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to (and found only in) California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominan ...

grasslands, Mixed oak woodlands, and

Knobcone pine The knobcone pine, ''Pinus attenuata'' (also called ''Pinus tuberculata''), is a tree that grows in mild climates on poor soils. It ranges from the mountains of southern Oregon to Baja California with the greatest concentration in northern Calif ...

Ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

, or mixed evergreen forests.NPS: Plant communities of NRA
/ref>

Forest Service areas

Of the eighteen National Recreation Areas under Forest Service management in the U.S., the Shasta–Trinity Units are somewhat unusual, being made up of three large reservoir lakes set in scenic and protected foothill locales with diverse recreation opportunities. The Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area section of the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, has managed by the

. It includes Shasta, Trinity, and Lewiston Lakes and their surrounding natural areas.

Trinity Unit

The Trinity Unit, centered on

Trinity Lake Trinity Lake, previously called Clair Engle Lake, is an artificial lake on the Trinity River formed by the Trinity Dam and located in Trinity County, California, United States. The dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake's cap ...

and

Lewiston Lake Lewiston Lake is a reservoir impounded by Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River, in Trinity County, California. Geography Lewiston Lake is near the towns of Weaverville and Lewiston in Trinity County, California. It is used for transbasin diver ...

, has four subunits: the Lewiston Lake, Trinity Dam, Stuart Fork, and North Lake Units. They offer many opportunities for recreation, including trout fishing in Lewiston Lake, scenic driving on the Trinity Heritage

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

, picnicking, camping, and hiking/riding on the multi-use trail system. The Trinity Dam Unit has

reservoir, that when full has of shoreline, contains , and holds of water.

Trinity Dam Trinity Dam is an earthfill dam on the Trinity River located about northeast of Weaverville, California in the United States. The dam was completed in the early 1960s as part of the federal Central Valley Project to provide irrigation water to ...

is one of the highest earth filled dams in the world.

Shasta Unit

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area WHIS3260

The Shasta Unit, centered on

Shasta Lake Shasta Lake, also popularly known as Lake Shasta, is a reservoir in Shasta County, California, United States. It began to store water in 1944 due to the impounding of the Sacramento River by Shasta Dam, the ninth tallest dam in the United State ...

, has four

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

arms;

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range. The longest tributary of the Sacr ...

, Squaw Creek, and

McCloud River The McCloud River is a longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 10, 2011 river that flows east of and parallel to the upper Sacramento River, in Siskiyou County and Sh ...

. Each has distinctive scenic beauty and attracts outdoor recreation visitors. There are numerous facilities for water sports and boating, including private

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

s. Public recreation facilities and amenities within the Shasta Unit include boat ramps, campgrounds, shoreline picnic areas, and hiking/equestrian/mountain biking trails. Shasta Lake is the largest

in California. When full, the lake has of shoreline, which exceeds that of

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. The reservoir contains , and holds of water. Shasta Lake is formed by

Shasta Dam Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the eighth-tallest dam in the United States. Located at the north e ...

, which is the second largest (after Grand Coulee Dam) and second tallest (after Hoover Dam) concrete dam in the United States.

National Park Service area

Whiskeytown Unit

The Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area is in size, centered on

Whiskeytown Lake Whiskeytown Lake is a reservoir in Shasta County in northwestern California, United States, about west of Redding. The lake is in the Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area. Whiskeytown Lake has a capacity ...

of . It also includes surrounding the reservoir. The backcountry, with mountain creeks and waterfalls, is accessible via of multi-use

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

, and/or

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

) trails.

References

External links

U.S. Forest Service: official Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area
— ''Shasta, Trinity, and Lewiston Lakes areas''.
U.S. National Park Service: official Whiskeytown National Recreation Area website
— ''Whiskeytown Lake area''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area National Recreation Areas of the United States Shasta-Trinity National Forest National Park Service National Recreation Areas National Park Service areas in California Parks in Shasta County, California Parks in Trinity County, California Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Klamath Mountains Trinity Mountains (California) Sacramento River Trinity River (California) Tourist attractions in Shasta County, California Tourist attractions in Trinity County, California Protected areas established in 1965 1965 establishments in California