Prineville Reservoir

Prineville · Crook County County · lake · 2,861 acres

Photo of Prineville Reservoir

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Essentials

At a glance

Published hours and a quick amenity skim — confirm on the official page before you go.

On site

Visitor amenities

Grouped from public park records — confidence may vary by source.

…stay a while

  • Restroomfacility
  • Picnic Areafacility
  • Parkingfacility

…near water

  • Boat Launchwater
  • Fishingwater
  • Swimmingwater

Park size map

Official park boundary from GIS.

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Overview

About this park

The Prineville Reservoir is in the high desert hills of Central Oregon, Oregon, United States. The reservoir is on the Crooked River 14 miles (22.5 km) southeast of Prineville, and 29 miles (46.7 km) east of Bend. This reservoir is a popular retreat for most of Central Oregon. It is near the geographic center of Oregon. Prineville Reservoir State Park is managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Prineville Reservoir was created by damming, via the Arthur R. Bowman Dam, the Crooked River upstream from Prineville. The reservoir is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Crooked River Project, flooding a juniper- and sagebrush-filled canyon, and was finished in 1961. The dam and reservoir are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, and operated under contract by Ochoco Irrigation District. Prineville Reservoir covers 18 miles (29 km) of the Crooked River and is primarily an irrigation storage water body, with secondary objectives of Crooked River flood control and public recreation. Prineville Reservoir has a maximum depth of 130 feet (40 m) and storage of just over 150,000 acre-feet (190,000,000 m3) of water. The northeast end of Prineville Reservoir is a designated wildlife management area; these 3,800 acres (15 km2) of both land and water provide a refuge for wildlife.

- Location: Crook County, Oregon, United States

- Type: Reservoir

- Shore length: 43 mi|km|1|abbr=on}}

- Surface elevation: 3257 ft|m|0|abbr=on}}

- Max depth: | max_depth = 130 ft|m|1|abbr=on}}

Setting

Landscape & setting

Lake facts (Wikipedia):

- Surface area: 3030 acre|km2|0|abbr=on}}

- Inflow: Crooked River, Bear Creek, Sanford Creek, Deer Creek, Alkali Creek, Antelope Creek, Owl Creek

- Outflow: Crooked River

Access

Access & hours

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prineville_Reservoir (Wikipedia / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA). Verify access, seasons, and regulations with the land manager before visiting.

Background

History & notes

List note: an impoundment of the Crooked River by Arthur R. Bowman Dam in central Crook County

Today

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Getting there

Prineville, OR
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Data quality

Sources

Check the official source for current hours and closures. Amenities are from public park records and may change seasonally. The agency page remains the source of record.

Confidence checks: coordinates · website · image · hours · amenities (and last verified when known).

Confidence score

82/ 100

BLM OR Hydrography Waterbody (Lakes)

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  • image
  • last verified

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