Harvey Gap Reservoir Case Study

Built in 1964, a 360 surface area reservoir lies near the base of the Grand Hogback, nine miles North of Rifle. The clear water of Rifle Gap reservoir provides excellent fishing, boating, sup, jet skiing, water skiing, and swimming for its visitors. I was lucky enough to talk to a lady ranger who graduated from Adams State University. I asked her what the biggest risk at Harvey Gap and Rifle Gap were and without any hesitation, she responded “Boating”.
The reservoir was definitely the main draw to the parks as we saw several fishermen on boats. As Dave and I drove past the lake we notice multiple buyees scattered amongst the lake, she (we totally forgot her name) said they move the buyees several times throughout the season for no wake zones.

From the tone in her voice, it seems as though the three law enforcement rangers absolutely have the final say in the park because the seasonal rangers only receive two days of training, additionally they are all very young and new to the industry.
There were other issues, but not of main concern or frequency, such as rock climbing cliff jumping, no radio service, and wildlife. The most cliff jumping happens at Harvey Gap, although they don’t encourage the activity, they don’t prevent it either. There are no ropes of signs near any of the cliffs. She mentioned last year a young boy and dad flipped their canoe, the boy’s life jacket came off and he had to be rushed off in an ambulance. The major concern with Harvey Gap State Park is the lack of radio or cell service around the lake area. All of these parks offer camping, fire rings and trash receptacles for the visitors. There are several signs warning the visitors of wildlife, specifically black bears and moose. We did see over pouring of trash near the receptacles and blowing into the forest/waters, drawing in more wild