Agate Lake is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 located 1510 feet (460.2 m) above sea level in Jackson County

Jackson County, Oregon

-National protected areas:* Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument* Crater Lake National Park * Klamath National Forest * Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest * Umpqua National Forest -Demographics:...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is 13 miles (20.9 km) northeast of Medford

Medford, Oregon

Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...

,
just north of Roxy Ann Peak

Roxy Ann Peak

Roxy Ann Peak is a tall mountain in the western Cascade Range located at the eastern edge of Medford, Oregon. The peak is approximately 30 million years old and is of volcanic origin. Despite its relatively small topographic prominence of , it rises above Medford and is visible from most of the...

. The lake is formed by the 86 feet (26.2 m) tall Agate Dam, which impounds Dry Creek, in the Rogue River

Rogue River (Oregon)

The Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States flows about in a generally westward direction from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Known for its salmon runs, whitewater rafting, and rugged scenery, it was one of the original eight rivers named in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act...

 watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

.

History

Construction of Agate Dam was authorized in 1962, started in 1965, and completed in 1966.
The 86 feet (26.2 m) tall earthfill embankment dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 was completed by the Talent Division of the Rogue River Basin Project, impounding Dry Creek. Two canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

s were also built, diverting water from nearby Antelope Creek and Little Butte Creek

Little Butte Creek (Rogue River)

Little Butte Creek is a long tributary of the Rogue River located in the U.S. state of Oregon. Its drainage basin consists of approximately of Jackson County, and another in Klamath County. The north fork of the creek begins at Fish Lake, while the south fork begins near Brown Mountain. The two...

. A boat ramp, four pit toilet

Pit toilet

A pit toilet is a dry toilet system which collects human excrement in a large container and range from a simple slit trench to more elaborate systems with ventilation. They are more often used in rural and wilderness areas as well as in much of the developing world...

s, a picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

 area, and a parking lot

Parking lot

A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....

 were also built. All but the boat ramp and parking lot have been removed due to excessive vandalism

Vandalism

Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...

.

Statistics

Agate Lake receives approximately 23 inches (584.2 mm) of precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 annually. Temperature

Temperature

Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...

s average from highs of 89 °F (31.7 °C) in the summer

Summer

Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...

 to lows of 22 °F (-5.6 °C) in the winter

Winter

Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...

. The average wind speed

Wind speed

Wind speed, or wind velocity, is a fundamental atmospheric rate.Wind speed affects weather forecasting, aircraft and maritime operations, construction projects, growth and metabolism rate of many plant species, and countless other implications....

 in the area is 10 to 15 mph (16.1 to 24.1 km/h).

Agate Lake has an average surface area of 216 acre (0.87412176 km²), and an average volume of 4782 acre.ft. It is located 1510 feet (460.2 m) above sea level, although the water level fluctuates as much as 25 feet (7.6 m) throughout the year. It has approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) of shore

Shore

A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore,...

line. The spillway

Spillway

A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways release floods so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy...

 has a capacity of 3300 ft3/s.

Agate Dam is 86 feet (26.2 m) tall, 25 feet (7.6 m) wide, and 3800 feet (1,158.2 m) long.

Flora and fauna

Dry Creek was intermittent prior to the construction of Agate Dam, and did not have any significant fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 population. Upstream (to the south of Agate Lake) trees such as willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

s, cottonwoods, and alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

s grow in Dry Creek's riparian zone

Riparian zone

A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...

. To the north of Agate Lake blackberries

Blackberry

The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...

, willows, alders, madrones, white oaks, and ponderosa pine

Ponderosa Pine

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...

 inhabit this zone.

Vegetation

Vegetation

Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...

 on the west side of the lake is mostly oak savanna

Oak savanna

An oak savanna is a type of savanna, or lightly forested grassland, where oaks are the dominant tree species. These savannas were maintained historically through wildfires set by lightning, grazing, low precipitation, poor soil, and/or fires set by Native Americans...

, with many white oak and madrone

Pacific Madrone

Arbutus menziesii, commonly known as the Pacific Madrone, is a species of Arbutus found on the west coast of North America, from British Columbia to California...

 trees. The most commons shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s include buckbrush

Ceanothus cuneatus

Ceanothus cuneatus is a species of flowering shrub known by the common names Buckbrush and wedgeleaf ceanothus.-Distribution:...

 and occasionally poison oak. The south side consists of mainly grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

. Invasive species

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 such as star thistle

Centaurea

Centaurea is a genus of between 350 and 600 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding regions are particularly species-rich...

, cheat grass

Drooping Brome

Drooping brome or Cheat Grass, Bromus tectorum, is a grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia and northern Africa.-Description:...

, and teasel

Dipsacus

Dipsacus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Dipsacaceae. The members of this genus are known as teasel or teazel or teazle. The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants growing to tall...

 have invaded these areas. To the northwest is more grassland, featuring vernal pool

Vernal pool

Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...

s in the spring. When filled, the pools are a known habitat for a threatened species

Threatened species

Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...

 of fairy shrimp

Fairy shrimp

Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are also known as fairy shrimp. They are usually long . Most species have 20 body segments, bearing 11 pairs of leaf-like phyllopodia , and the body lacks a carapace...

, (branchinecta lynchi

Branchinecta lynchi

The vernal pool fairy shrimp, Branchinecta lynchi, is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Branchinectidae. It is endemic to the U.S. states of Oregon and California, living in vernal pools. They range in size from long...

), which can be found in the winter and early spring. The rare big-flowered woolly meadowfoam can also be found in these pools. They are endemic to the Agate Desert

Agate Desert

The Agate Desert is a prairie located Jackson County, Oregon, United States, in the area of White City. Much of the World War II army training base Camp White was built in the Agate Desert...

 region.

Black-tailed deer

Black-tailed Deer

Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer occupying coastal temperate rainforest on North America's Pacific coast are subspecies of the mule deer. They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies...

 inhabit the area in the spring, summer, and fall

Autumn

Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....

. Over 190 species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s have been spotted around the lake. Fish such as largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, bluegill

Bluegill

The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

, and crappie

Crappie

Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

 live in the lake.

Recreation

Non motorized boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

s are allowed on the Agate Lake. Swimming and picnicking are also popular activities.

The Jackson County Parks Department estimates that approximately 5,000 people visit the lake annually.