Amistad National Recreation Area

Amistad – the name means "friendship" – is an international recreation area on the United States-Mexico border. This park offers an excellent setting for water sports and protects some of the world’s best examples of prehistoric American Indian art and artifacts. The reservoir was created by the 6-mile-long Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande. The United States and Mexico cooperated in developing a combined recreation area, flood control, water storage, and power generation project. At the center of the dam stand two bronze eagles symbolizing the nations working together. The river extends 74 miles up the Rio Grande, 14 miles up the Pecos, and 25 miles up the Devils River. The waters present an extraordinary blueness because of their great clarity and the area’s limestone character and lack of loose soils. The reservoir offers several species of fish including bass, sunfish, catfish, gar, and other fish sought by anglers. Catches of 8- to 10-pound bass and 40-pound catfish keep anglers excited. Nine months of warm weather make Amistad a winter haven.

Indian Rock Art

Extensive archeological research shows that Indian groups lived in this area continuously for thousands of  years before European contact in the 16th century. At Seminole Canyon State Historical Park adjacent to Amistad, walking tours to rock art sites are available year-round. At Panther and Parida caves, which are accessible by boat (water levels permitting), visitors can marvel at spectacular rock art panels up to 16 feet in height painted in red, yellow, orange, and black.

Amistad Reservoir

Amistad Reservoir boasts more than 850 miles of shoreline, 540 of which are in Texas. The Rio Grande is navigable for about 75 miles behind Amistad Dam. Boating, waterskiing, fishing, camping, and archeological sites are major attractions. The international boundary lies out in the lake, often following the historic bed of the Rio Grande.

Motorboats, sailboats, houseboats, and even kayaks take to Amistad’s waters beginning with the first warm weather, as early as late February. By April the reservoir is dotted with boaters, anglers, sailboarders, scuba divers, and, somewhat later, swimmers.

Lower Pecos

Amistad lies in what archeologists call the Lower Pecos Region, which contains some of North America’s largest and oldest rock art sites. There are isolated works and huge murals over 100 feet long. First in the region, Paleo-Indians arrived over 10,000 years ago as the Ice Age ended. By about 8,5000 years ago, drier, warmer climate conditions created a desert-like environment.

Steep-walled limestone canyons in biologically diverse, near-desert settings typify the park. Canyon walls along the Pecos, Devils, and Rio Grande arms of the reservoir – some rising more than 200 feet – were carved by water over thousands of centuries. Amistad lies in a transition zone where three major biological regions meet: the Balconian, Chihuahuan, and Tamaulipan. Their distinctive plants and animals combine to make the park area an oasis in an otherwise sparsely vegetated wilderness.

Amistad Reservoir’s Mexican shoreline is about 350 miles long. Visitors from the United States can cross into Mexico via Spur 349 over the dam to Ciudad Acuna, sister city of Del Rio, Texas. U.S. currency may be used there.

Amistad: The Nature of Transitions

Transitions characterize Amistad. Here south Texas brushlands converge on the Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest and on the Tamaulipan chaparral country to the southeast. Most park lands are chaparral country – low hills and valleys near the dam, canyons are primarily upstream. Common plants are uniformly drylands-adapted: catclaw, ocotillo, yucca, ceniza, lechuguilla, sotol, and cactus. Trees – low-growing and scattered in protected locations – are mesquite, Texas persimmon, huisache, hackberry, live oak, and Texas mountain laurel.

Fish

Black bass, stripers, channel and yellow catfish, crappie, and sunfish are the fish species that attract most anglers. Largemouth bass and the channel cats were stocked when the reservoir was partially filled. The reservoir also holds alligator and longnose gar, shad, carp, blue and flathead catfish, white bass, and freshwater drum.

Dangerous Plants and Animals

Amistad’s natural communities include animals and plants which may be harmful. Poisonous snakes include the broadbanded and trans-Pecos copperheads; western diamondback, banded rock, and black-tailed rattlesnakes; and Texas coral snake. Poisonous arthropods include the scorpion, wasps, and black widow and brown recluse spiders. Tarantulas are not considered dangerous to humans but can inflict painful bites when molested. Javelina (collared peccary or wild pig) are potentially dangerous, especially when they have young. Many bushes in southwest Texas bear thorns; hikers should wear hightop leather boots for protection. Do not eat unfamiliar wild plants. Watch children; many wild fruits are poisonous. Pets must be on leashes at all times in the park.

Birds

Amistad is habitat for both resident and migratory birds. Common birds are the vulture, raven, scaled quail, mourning and white-winged doves, hawks, herons, sandpipers, and an occasional golden or bald eagle. Wildlife checklists are available at park headquarters.