Heron Lake is a
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
Rio Arriba County
Rio Arriba County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,246. Its county seat is Tierra Amarilla. Its northern border is the Colorado state line.
Rio Arriba County comprises the Española, N ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
in the southwestern
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The reservoir is part of the
San Juan-Chama Project, which connects the
San Juan River in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
to the
Rio Chama, which is part of the
Rio Grande watershed.
Lake Heron is 80 miles northwest of
Santa Fe.
Water is impounded in Heron Lake by the long, high
Heron Dam, which was completed in 1971. The lake is approximately long and wide, and lies at an elevation of up to . Heron Dam is owned and operated by 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 southern shore is the location of Heron Lake State Park, featuring over 200 camping and picnic sites, and two improved boat ramps. The lake is a destination for salmon and trout fishing, as well as for small boat sailing. Boat speeds are restricted by a 'no-wake' policy. A hiking trail crosses the Rio Chama Gorge via a pedestrian suspension bridge, and then runs southwest through wooded terrain to the grounds of
El Vado Lake State Park.
The lake, dam, and state park are named for Kenneth A. Heron, an engineer in the early 1900s who first explored the concept of diverting water from Colorado to the desert regions of southern New Mexico.
References
External links
Heron Lake State Park
{{authority control
Reservoirs in New Mexico
State parks of New Mexico
Parks in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Lakes of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico