Rifle Gap State Park is a

Colorado State Park The system of state parks in Colorado integrates outdoor recreation with tourism. There are currently forty-two parks open to the public, and there is one in development. Colorado State Parks host over eleven million visitors each year. Colorado ...

located in Garfield County near Rifle,

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 ...

. The park established in 1966 includes 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 ...

. Plant communities are pinyon-juniper woodlands,

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

shrubland with

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered chann ...

in places along the edge of the Rifle Gap Reservoir. Commonly observed wildlife include

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

, elk and

great horned owl The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air"), or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extre ...

s. Park facilities include a visitors center, campgrounds, picnic sites and a boat ramp.

References

* Protected areas of Garfield County, Colorado Geography of Colorado Protected areas established in 1966 State parks of Colorado 1966 establishments in Colorado {{Colorado-geo-stub