The Corps of Engineers has taken advantage of the natural and scenic beauty and constructed a variety of recreational facilities around the lake. Paved access roads wind through 11 developed parks with 673 campsites. In these campgrounds, visitors can enjoy modern campsites offering electricity, fire rings, drinking water, and restrooms/showers. Other facilities include group picnic sites, swimming beaches, hiking trails, boat launching ramps, sanitary dump stations, and picnic shelters. Seven parks contain year-around commercial marinas, which offer grocery items, fuel, boat rental and storage, fishing guides and other supplies and related services.
Northwest Arkansas abounds with a diversity of fishing opportunities. Beaver Lake has more than 28,000 surface acres of water. Just below the dam, the bone-chilling waters of the upper White River provides perfect habitat for pole-bending rainbow and record-size German brown trout. The lake itself provides year-round fishing pleasure for adventurous anglers who can try their luck at catching large and small-mouth bass, crappie, bream, white bass, stripers, and channel or spoon-bill catfish.
Each year, millions of fingerling game fish from the Blackburn Creek Nursery Pond are released into the clear, blue waters by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The first on-site rearing pond in this area, the Blackburn Creek Pond, is the workplace for fishery biologists and other specialists in the field who work hard to keep Beaver Lake in the forefront of fish production.
Hunters will find game plentiful in northwest Arkansas. A mixture of hardwood and evergreen forest provides a good home to many different species of wildlife. While Beaver Lake is conveniently located near several population centers, within a short driving distance, hunters can find many remote areas where they can match wits with various types of upland game animals such as deer, rabbits and squirrels.
In addition to fishing and hunting, many other sports and activities await the visitor. Boating, swimming, camping, picnicking, scuba diving, water skiing, spelunking and sightseeing are just a few of the recreational opportunities available at or near Beaver Lake.