| Bonny Lake State Park | |
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| Location | Yuma County, Colorado, USA |
| Nearest city | Burlington, CO |
| Area | 4,793 acres (19.40 km2) |
| Established | 1966 |
| Governing body | Colorado State Parks |
Bonny Lake State Park is a state park located in Yuma County, Colorado near Idalia[1]. Created in 1966, Bonny Lake is the easternmost state park in Colorado.
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In 2007 the lake was to have 2,200 acre feet (2,700,000 m3) of water drained to meet obligations of a water compact made between Colorado and Kansas,[2] however not all of the 2,200 acre feet (2,700,000 m3) of water was drained. The drainage was stopped because none of the water was reaching the way station in Binkelman Nebraska, and only 1,100 feet (340 m) was lost.
Over the summer of 2008 the lake gained enough water through rainfall to raise the lake a total of 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m), but the dam engineer decided to let out the water so it would not evaporate. This went against the decision that was made at the water meetings that happened that previous winter to not let out any more water, and either let the lake dry up or fill up as nature let it. The lake has the potential to have huge winter fish kills due to the shallowier lake conditions. If the 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) was still in the lake the fish would easily have enough water to avoid fish kills.
More than 300 different species of birds have been seen in the park, including rare bald eagles there are also many species of waterfowl over the winter months that including green-wing teal, widgeon, pintails, mallards, wood ducks, blue-wing teal, Canadian geese, snow geese, and sandhill cranes. Mammal species found in the park include beaver, cottontail rabbit, coyote, deer (both mule deer and white-tailed deer), jackrabbit, muskrat, opossum, raccoon, thirteen-lined ground squirrel, and weasel.[1][4]