A recreation area is a type of protected area

Protected area

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...

 designated in some jurisdictions. In the United States, National Recreation Area

National Recreation Area

National Recreation Area is a designation for a protected area in the United States, often centered on large reservoirs and emphasizing water-based recreation for a large number of people. The first National Recreation Area was the Boulder Dam Recreation Area...

s are administered by several different agencies. They typically do not meet the strict guidelines to become national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

s. In U.S. state park systems, recreation areas may also fail to meet some criteria to be designated state park

State park

State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...

s, such as having a large number of non-contiguous properties. Size is not necessarily a defining criteria. For instance, in Michigan, the largest state recreation area, Waterloo Recreation Area is 20500 acres (83 km²) while the smallest state park is the 31 acre (0.12545266 km²) Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor.