Harriman State Park is a public recreation area located on the Harriman Wildlife Refuge
[ in Fremont County, south of Island Park in ]eastern Idaho
Eastern Idaho is the area of Idaho lying east of the Magic Valley region. It is generally understood to include: Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Caribou, Clark, Custer, Franklin, Fremont, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, Power an ...
, United States. The state park is within the Henry's Fork Caldera
The Henry's Fork Caldera in eastern Idaho is a caldera located in an area known as Island Park, west of Yellowstone National Park. The caldera was formed by an eruption 1.3 million years ago of the Yellowstone hotspot. The eruption distributed ...
in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is one of the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of the Earth. It is located within the northern Rocky Mountains, in areas of northwestern Wyoming, southwestern M ...
. It is home to an abundance of elk, moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
, sandhill crane
The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on ...
s, trumpeter swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 2 in to 8 ft 2 ...
s, and the occasional black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
or grizzly bear.[ Two-thirds of the trumpeter swans that winter in the contiguous United States spend the season in Harriman State Park.][
]
History
The park's acreage was owned by Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
investors from 1902 to 1977, serving as a cattle ranch and private retreat for the Harriman and Guggenheim families.[ It was deeded to Idaho for free in 1977 by Roland and W. Averell Harriman, whose insistence that the state have a professional park managing service helped prompt the creation of the ]Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) is a state-level government agency of Idaho that manages state parks throughout Idaho as well as the registration programs for boats, snowmobiles and other off-highway vehicles.
History
Idaho' ...
in 1965. The park opened to the public in 1982.[
]
Support group
Friends of Harriman State Park, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to community projects that directly benefit Harriman State Park of Idaho, was formed in 2010 after an announcement by the State of Idaho of the need to cut park funding completely and eventually dissolve the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation into another state agency,[ a contingency that was not put in place.][
]
Activities and amenities
Henry's Fork, a fly-fishing stream of note, winds through park meadows for eight miles.[ The park offers trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. In winter, roads and trails are groomed for cross-country skiing.][
]
See also
* List of Idaho state parks
This is a list of Idaho's 27 state parks managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. IIdaho state code there are 30 state parks listed, including Mowry State Park, Veteran's State Park, and Glade Creek. While these three remai ...
* National Parks in Idaho
The six national parks, reserves, historic sites, and monuments in Idaho contain a wide variety of interesting places and experiences. These include recreational areas, archeological sites, nature preserves and volcanic parks.
The parks City of ...
References
External links
Harriman State Park
Idaho Parks and Recreation
Harriman State Park and Harriman Wildlife Refuge Boundaries Map
Idaho Parks and Recreation
Friends of Harriman State Park
{{authority control
Protected areas of Fremont County, Idaho
State parks of Idaho
Protected areas established in 1977
Yellowstone hotspot