Visited on 6/25/2018 after given an examination near Fallbrook, California. Vail Lake is located on Temecula Creek, in the Butterfield Valley, south of Oak Mountain, of the Black Hills, in the Santa Margarita River watershed. It is approximately 15 miles east of Temecula, California and is in the Cleveland National Forest among giant oak trees that dot the 15 miles of mountainous shoreline.
Vail Lake covers approximately 1,100 acres at an elevation of 1,426 feet above sea level and is supplied by storm water runoff from Kolb, Temecula, and Wilson Creeks. Surface water stored in the lake is used to help replenish local ground water supplies through recharge operations. Vail Lake was created in 1948 when the owners of the Vail Ranch constructed the 132-foot high Vail Lake Dam, which has been owned and operated by the Rancho California Water District since 1978.
The property surrounding Vail Lake is privately owned, and recreational access to the lake is privately controlled. The Butterfield Country Recreation Park was established in 1968 to provide public access to the lake and its marina, but the park was closed by its owners in 1989. In 1995, a members-only resort facility was opened at the location of the former park; and in 2000, the area was re-opened to the public on an annual-fee basis. Recreational activities at Vail Lake include fishing, boating, RV, mountain biking, miniature golf and swimming.
Land near Vail Lake is the only known native habitat of the endemic and endangered flowering shrub Ceanothus ophiochilus, which was named the Vail Lake ceanothus when it was discovered in 1989.
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