History of the National Park Service and multi purpose river basin development programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority which began in the 1930s and spread to river valleys in all parts of the country after World War II. Lake Mead was the first National Recreation Area. The Boulder Canyon Project Act, passed in 1928, authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to construct Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. Work began in 1931 and the dam, highest in the Western Hemisphere, was completed in 1935. The next year, under provisions of an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service assumed responsibility for all recreational activities
Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area is a public recreation area located in the Lower Colorado River Valley within the city of limits of Laughlin in southern Clark County, Nevada. The park is located directly across the Colorado River from Bullhead City, Arizona, and is approximately downstream of the Davis Dam. The park has two miles of shoreline and riparian areas. The majority of its consists of canyons and washes. The Fort Mohave Land Act of 1960 saw the transfer of of federal land in the Laughlin Big Bend area