Sugar Pine Reservoir 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 control ...
in
Placer County
Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn.
Placer County is included in the Grea ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, located approximately north of
Foresthill
Foresthill is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,483 at the 2010 census, down from 1,791 ...
.
[ The reservoir was flooded in 1982, and today supplies water to the community of Foresthill and hosts a number of recreation facilities.
]
History
The reservoir was created in 1982 with the construction of Sugar Pine Dam over North Shirttail Creek
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''no ...
, a tributary of the North Fork American River
The North Fork American River is the longest branch of the American River in Northern California. It is long from its source at the crest of the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, to its mouth at Folsom Lake northeast of Sacramento. Prior to the c ...
, as part of the Auburn-Folsom South Unit of the Central Valley Project
The Central Valley Project (CVP) is a federal power and water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). It was devised in 1933 in order to provide irrigation and m ...
. Although Sugar Pine Dam was funded through the Central Valley Project, it was never integrated into the project operationally, as it was intended to work with the never-completed Auburn Dam
Auburn Dam was a proposed concrete arch dam on the North Fork of the American River east of the town of Auburn, California, in the United States, on the border of Placer and El Dorado Counties. Slated to be completed in the 1970s by the U.S. ...
. According to the U.S. 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 ...
(USBR), during the 1987–1992 California drought the reservoir performed well, filling and spilling and meeting its water obligations each year but one.
In 2003, the community of Foresthill purchased Sugar Pine Reservoir, Sugar Pine Dam, and its conveyance system from the USBR for $3.1 million. , the Foresthill Public Utility District provides water to 1,875 homes and 75 businesses in and around Foresthill.
Recreation
Outdoor journalist Tom Stienstra called the reservoir a "small emerald jewel ringed by forest" and described the trout fishing as "decent".
Recreation at Sugar Pine Reservoir is managed by the Tahoe National Forest
Tahoe National Forest is a United States National Forest located in California, northwest of Lake Tahoe. It includes the peak of Sierra Buttes, near Sierra City, which has views of Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. It is located in parts of six c ...
under an agreement with the USBR. The reservoir offers four main recreation areas around the lake. The complex, which opened in May 1985, contains two campgrounds, boat ramp, hiking trails, picnic area, swimming beach, and a trailer dump station. The facilities are operated under a concession agreement between the U.S. Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...
and L&L Inc.
See also
*List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupi ...
*List of dams and reservoirs in California
Following is a list of dams and reservoirs in California in a sortable table. There are over 1,400 named dams and 1,300 named reservoirs in the state of California.
Dams in service
:''Please add to this list from the below sources.''
Former ...
References
External links
Sugar Pine Reservoir at Recreation.gov
{{authority control
Reservoirs in Placer County, California
Central Valley Project
Reservoirs in California
Reservoirs in Northern California