Deer Creek State Park a state park in south western

Wasatch County Wasatch County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 23,530. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute Native American word meaning ''mountain pa ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

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 ...

, featuring large Deer Creek Dam and Reservoir. The park is located near the town of Charleston in the southwest corner of the Heber Valley.

Description

Established as a state park in 1971, the Deer Creek State Park features the large Deer Creek Reservoir, which is popular for

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 ...

and

sun tanning Sun tanning or tanning is the process whereby skin color is darkened or tanned. It is most often a result of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight or from artificial sources, such as a tanning lamp found in indoor tanning be ...

, along with other

surface water sports The following is a list of surface water sports. These are sports which are performed atop a body of water. Boat racing Motorized racing * Hydroplane racing * Bathtub racing Rowing * Canoeing * Kayaking * Sculling * Dragon boat racing Sailin ...

such as boating,

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

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 ...

, and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. The park is at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of . Park facilities include two concrete ramps for boat-launching, a summer-only 75-unit campground (58 sites for RVs and the remainder for tents), rest rooms, showers, and sewage-disposal, two group-use areas, picnic areas, and fish cleaning stations. There is also a restaurant and gas station, and boat rentals are available. The park recorded 338,865 visitors for the

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2017. Most of the multiple areas of the park are accessible directly from U.S. Route 189 (US-189), which runs near the eastern and southern shores of the reservoir. However, Utah State Route 314 provides additional access from US-189 to the facilities on the southern shore.

History

In the 1930s the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

area and surrounding farmland were suffering from

water shortages Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is wher ...

. Creation of a reservoir was approved 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 ...

in 1935 to help alleviate this problem, and Deer Creek Reservoir became a significant part of the

Provo River The Provo River is located in Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah, in the United States. It rises in the Uinta Mountains at Wall Lake and flows about southwest to Utah Lake at the city of Provo, Utah. Course The two main branches of Provo Rive ...

Project. The

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 ...

(BOR) began construction of the reservoir in the spring of 1938. Water was available for use in 1941, and the project was completed in 1955. The Provo River Water Users Association, under contract with the BOR, repaid construction costs, and operated and maintained the facilities until the area became a state park in 1971. During this time, fishing was the chief recreational activity, as other water sports were prohibited. The Division of Parks and Recreation became responsible for the administration, development, and operation of the park in January, 1971, and maintains it today.

References

External links

* {{authority control Protected areas established in 1971 State parks of Utah Protected areas of Wasatch County, Utah

Description

History

See also

References

External links