Paonia State Park, is a Colorado State Park

Colorado State Parks

Colorado State Parks manages the Colorado state parks system. The system administers 42 parks.-History:*1937. The state legislature appointed a land board to create the first State Parks Board....

 located in Gunnison County

Gunnison County, Colorado

Gunnison County is the fifth most extensive of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado in the United States. The county population was 15,324 at the 2010 census. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army Topographical Engineers, who surveyed...

 east of Paonia

Paonia, Colorado

The Town of Paonia is a Statutory Town in Delta County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,497 at the 2000 census.-History:The area was first explored in 1853 by Captain John W. Gunnison of the United States Army...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. The 1857 acres (7.5 km²) park in a canyon surrounding Paonia Reservoir on the North Fork Gunnison River

North Fork Gunnison River

The North Fork Gunnison River is a tributary of the Gunnison River, long, in southwestern Colorado in the United States. It drains part of the southwestern flank of the Elk Mountains northeast of Delta....

 was established in 1964. Park facilities include campsites, picnic sites and a boat ramp. Geologic formations from the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 and Paleocene

Paleocene

The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era...

 periods are visible in the park, along with fossilized palm fronds and leaf imprints. Park uplands are gambel oak

Gambel oak

Quercus gambelii, or Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub widespread in the foothills and lower mountain elevations of the central southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico: its range is centered on the Colorado Plateau–Four Corners states of Utah-Colorado,...

 shrublands along with mixed conifer and aspen

Populus tremuloides

Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, and Quakies,. The trees have tall trunks, up to 25 metres, with smooth pale bark, scarred with black. The glossy green leaves, dull beneath, become golden...

 forests. Commonly seen wildlife includes, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

, elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, cottontail rabbit and marmot

Marmot

The marmots are a genus, Marmota, of squirrels. There are 14 species in this genus.Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Eurasian steppes, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in...

.