Sumner Lake
Edwin Carter
Eagle Nest Lake

Eagle Nest Lake State Park Visitor Center, Eagle Nest, New Mexico
Eagle Nest Lake is located near the base of Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain in New Mexico. The lake and surrounding land was purchased by the State of New Mexico in 2002, and Eagle Nest Lake became the state’s newest park in 2005.

Located on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, Eagle Nest Lake State Park is near a number of significant regional attractions and recreation areas, including the Taos Pueblo and Angel Fire Ski Area. The lake is particularly popular with anglers, who fish year-round for trout and salmon.
Like the other state park visitor facility in New Mexico for which EDA designed exhibits, the new building at Eagle Nest Lake is a LEED-certified structure. It features solar and wind power generation, straw-bale construction, extensive use of recycled building materials and the latest technologies for window coatings and environmentally-friendly paints and finishes. Sustainable construction is a focus of the interpretive experience. An X-ray window allows visitors to see the straw-bale walls, and a set of gauges show visitors how much power is being generated by the building’s wind turbine and solar panels.
Eagle Nest Dam was built by private ranching interests nearly a century ago. A graceful concrete-arch structure, it is the largest privately-built dam in the nation, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Park visitors cannot see the downstream face of the dam, though, because it is located on private land outside the park. The EDA design team used historic engineering documents to re-create a scale model of the dam so that visitors can experience what it looks like, and gain an understanding/appreciation of its outstanding engineering (the dam has never had a leak, safety issue or failed an inspection).

 

The design team also worked with New Mexico State Parks staff to highlight a project by local schoolkids who built a nesting platform for osprey near the lake. A webcam placed on the nesting platform transmits real-time images of the nest to a monitor in the visitor center.

  

Project Highlights
• scale model of Eagle Nest Dam
• electronic interactive fish identification game
• life-sized historic figures used to deliver cultural interpretation

EDA Products and Services
• interpretive planning
• exhibit design, fabrication and installation