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Outdoor Recreation Resources
Nevada is endowed with a larger per capita acreage of publicly owned lands available for recreation than nearly any other state. Public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the vast majority of which is designated for multiple uses, dominate the state. The BLM claims that more than 99 percent of the 47,867,000 acres it manages are open to recreation (Table 5-1).
With over 5 million acres, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is the largest in the lower 48 states. Nearly all of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands are also open to multiple recreation uses. The National Park Service (NPS) manages another 775,000 acres, including Great Basin National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and a small portion of Death Valley National Monument.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) also administer substantial holdings that offer certain recreation opportunities, such as Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Desert National Wildlife Refuge.
The State of Nevada owns about four tenths of one percent (0.4 percent) of the state or about 274,000 acres. Much of the state-owned land is comprised of state park units administered by the Nevada Division of State Parks (NDSP) and wildlife management areas administered by the Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW) (Table 5-2).
The Nevada State Park System is comprised of 24 separate units with approximately 132,878 total acres of land and water. However, only 77,343 of the total state park acres are actually owned by the state. The Bureau of Reclamation controls 49,495 acres, leasing lands surrounding both Lahontan and Rye Patch to the state. Another 5,280 acres are leased from the Bureau of Land Management under the Recreation and Public Purposes program, while 240 more acres are administered by State Parks under a management agreement with BLM. Finally, 520 acres encompassing the Ichthyosaur fossil sites near Berlin are controlled by State Parks under an USFS special use permit.
Five of the state park units are designated state historic parks or sites. Each of these emphasizes cultural features; including Mormon Station, Belmont Courthouse, Fort Churchill, Ward Charcoal Ovens and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort each emphasize cultural features. However, most of Nevada's state parks have significant cultural features complementing natural and recreational features.
Dayton State Park has the Rock Point Stamp Mill. Spring Mountain Ranch, Floyd Lamb and Spring Valley all have historic ranch features. Lake Tahoe has numerous, though mostly obscured, archeological and cultural sites. Berlin is arguably the best-preserved ghost town in the state. Cathedral Gorge, Kershaw-Ryan, Beaver Dam and Valley of Fire State Parks all have remnant Civilian Conservation Corps constructed cultural features. In addition, Valley of Fire is famous for its petroglyphs.
Trails offer the means for increasingly popular recreation pursuits, both motorized and non-motorized. Nevada's State Parks offer very limited opportunities for motorized trail use. However, the state parks' trail inventory includes 118 miles of single-track trails primarily devoted to hiking, equestrian and/or mountain bike usage. Another 159 miles of un-maintained dirt roads within the various state parks offer additional multi-use trail opportunities, including some motorized access for licensed vehicles. ATV's, dirt bikes and other unlicensed motorized vehicles are not permitted.
The vast majority of trail mileage in Nevada occurs on federally owned lands, primarily BLM public lands and the national forests. The BLM estimates that 39,311,000 acres (85 percent of BLM land) are open to off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. The BLM's inventory includes 56 trails totaling 622 miles. Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest land contain a total of 1,283 trial miles, including 718.5 in designated wilderness areas.
Recreation Waters
The major recreation lakes and reservoirs of the state are itemized in Table 5-3. Most significant in terms of total acreage and recreation opportunities are Lake Tahoe, Lake Mead, and Lake Mohave. The latter two are both part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which sustains one of 
the highest visitation rates of any national park unit in the nation, over 8 million per year. Pyramid Lake, the largest entirely within Nevada, is also significant.
Total water acreage in the state parks approximates 29,801, of which 23,590 can be attributed to the two major Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in the state, Lahontan and Rye Patch. Seven park units are situated adjacent to or encompass major water bodies. In addition to Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, Lahontan State Recreation Area and Rye Patch SRA, there are Washoe Lake State Park and Walker Lake, South Fork and Wild Horse State Recreation Areas. Seven others incorporate smaller bodies of water, while several lay adjacent to perennial rivers or streams. Eleven have boat ramps with a total of 28 lanes. The acreages of surface water bodies within the State Park System are shown in Table 5-2.
More Photos of Recreational Waters in Nevada
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