National Recreation Area
National Recreation Area ( NRA ), German: National Recreation Area , is a category designation for nationally important protected areas in the United States of America . Often these areas are large natural or artificial water reservoirs , where the focus is on water-related leisure activities of broad sections of the population. According to the IUCN definition, theprotection status corresponds roughly tothat of a German nature park . In addition to the National Recreation Areas, various states have also established State Recreation Areas in their area(for example,the Kickapoo State Recreation Area in Illinois , which has the status of a state park ).
The NRA are under the administration of the US federal agency National Park Service . However, maintenance is carried out by various federal agencies, most of which (such as the NPS or the Bureau of Land Management ) are subordinate to the US Department of the Interior or (such as the US Forest Service ) to the Department of Agriculture .
history
The first area designated as a National Recreation Area was the Boulder Dam Recreation Area (later renamed Lake Mead National Recreation Area ). The early NRAs were established through agreements between the US Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service. It was not until 1963 that the President's Recreation Advisory Committee set up binding criteria for National Recreation Areas and demanded that the United States Congress be responsible for designating new areas. The first NRA to be designated by a formal statute of Congress was the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1964 . The first NRA under the administration of the US Forestry Administration became the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area the following year . In 1972, Congress established the Gateway National Recreation Area, administered by the National Park Service, as the first “urban national park”. The Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area was rededicated in October 2000 to Cuyahoga Valley National Park .
List of areas
- Former National Recreation Areas
Surname | Establishment | Desedication | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area | December 27, 1974 | October 11, 2000 | rededicated to Cuyahoga Valley National Park . |
Shasta Lake Recreation Area | May 22, 1945 | July 1, 1948 | transferred to the US Forest Service. |
Lake Texoma Recreation Area | April 18, 1946 | June 30, 1949 | returned to the US Army Corps of Engineers . |
Millerton Lake Recreation Area | May 22, 1945 | November 1, 1957 | transferred to the state of California. |
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area | July 22, 1963 | 1st October 1968 | transferred to the Forest Service. |
Shadow Mountain Recreation Area | June 27, 1952 | March 1, 1979 | transferred to the Forest Service. |
Web links
- Criteria for the designation of National Recreation Areas (Federal Executive Branch Policy Governing the Selection, Establishment, and Administration of National Recreation Areas by the Recreation Advisory Council, Circular No. 1, March 26, 1963)