Clinton Lake is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

on the southwestern edge of

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

. The lake was created by the construction of the Clinton Dam, and the 35 square miles (91 km²) of land and water is maintained by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

History

The Wakarusa Valley has had a history of violent floods before the construction of Clinton Lake. Previous floods had devastated the former towns of Belvoir, Bloomington and Sigil numerous times. With the construction of the lake, several towns were demolished including Sigil, Belvoir, and Bloomington, as well as Richland in Shawnee County. Construction of the dam and lake was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1962 (Public Law 87-874), and funds were allocated for the project in 1971. Construction began in 1972, and the dam was completed in 1975. Impoundment began on November 30, 1977, yet the conservation pool was reached in 1980. Filling the reservoir slowly helped create a more hospitable environment for fish by allowing the native grass to remain on most of the upper lake-bed. In April 1981, the lake began multipurpose operations including flood control, water supply, and recreation. The Army Corps of Engineers currently manages Clinton Lake and 15,000 acres of land around the lake in coordination with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism.

Hydrology

Clinton Lake is formed mainly by the

Wakarusa River The Wakarusa River is a tributary of the Kansas River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 30, 2011 in eastern Kansas in the United States. It drain ...

coming east from Shawnee County. The Wakarusa River flows through the Clinton Dam and continues east south of Lawrence to the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a meandering river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is potentially the southwestern most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is sometimes in turn the northwesternmost portion of ...

near Eudora. Main tributaries include Deer Creek, Rock Creek, Washington Creek, Dry Creek, Coon Creek and Camp Creek. Settlements along or near Clinton Lake include Clinton, Stull and

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Natural history

The woods surrounding the lake are abundant with

white tail deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. dom ...

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

s, and

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

Bald eagles 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 complex, species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies ...

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbea ...

gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gul ...

cormorants Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

, and various types of migratory birds, including

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Costa Rica, in winter. Taxonomy The Americ ...

s and

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North ...

, can be seen above and around the lake at different times of the year. Clinton Lake is also well-stocked with fish, including

blue catfish The blue catfish (''Ictalurus furcatus'') is a large species of North American catfish, reaching a length of and a weight of . The continent's largest catfish, it can live to 20 years, with a typical fish being between and . Native distribution ...

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

, and

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus''), known informally as the "channel cat", is a species of catfish native to North America. They are North America's most abundant catfish species, and the official state fish of Kansas, Missouri, Nebra ...

. Invasive

zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel, an Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally Intro ...

s are also present.

Economy

Clinton Lake is the source of water for over 100,000 people in northeastern Kansas, making it the most relied on reservoir in the state. The lake also serves as a popular recreational area with four parks managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, and one park managed by the city of Lawrence. The lake offers opportunities for boating, fishing and other water sports. The surrounding land, part of which is Clinton State Park, allows access to mountain biking trails, camping, hiking, three disc golf courses, an off-leash dog park, horseback riding,

geocaching Geocaching (, ) is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ''geocaches'' or ''caches'', at sp ...

, hunting, picnicking and wildlife viewing. The Clinton Lake Museum is located near the town of Clinton in an old milk shed that was once part of the town of Bloomington. The

Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival was a four-day music festival held annually in early June from 2004 to 2015 at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. Named for the Wakarusa River, the festival was first held at Clinton State Park immediatel ...

was held annually in June from 2004 through 2008 and featured a variety of music from bluegrass to

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

Protection

In 2002 the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance, a water quality advocacy group, published a Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategy (WRAPS) for the Upper Wakarusa watershed. Chief concerns were degrading lake conditions and increasing water supply needs. The WRAPS provided a structure for building cross-watershed to regional, grassroots to multi-agency stakeholder cooperation. A formal Wakarusa WRAPS leadership team was chartered in 2007.

References

External links

Clinton Lake Website

Recreation.gov

Kansas WRAPS Program

Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance

Douglas County Map
KDOT {{authority control Reservoirs in Kansas Landmarks in Kansas Protected areas of Douglas County, Kansas Bodies of water of Douglas County, Kansas Tourist attractions in Lawrence, Kansas