Lake Bistineau State Park

Lake Bistineau exists because of a log jam. Louisiana State Parks says the lake was created in the 1800s when a log jam on the Red River backed up water, and 64 Parishes counts it among the lakes the Great Raft made, with Caddo Lake and Cross Lake. A permanent dam across Loggy Bayou in 1935 gave the lake its present form, according to the Bossier Parish Library, and the lake reaches into Webster, Bossier and Bienville parishes.

The park was established in 1946. Louisiana State Parks calls it the first state park chosen to have developed facilities for Black visitors, and says these were separate facilities at an existing park, not an integrated system. The Bossier Parish Library history dates the Black section to 1956, says it was known locally as The Colored State Park, and says it had swimming, fishing and day-use picnic spots but no overnight accommodations, while the white section had cabins, camping and group lodging. A 1956 Louisiana statute required segregated public parks. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the facilities were open to everyone, though Louisiana State Parks says Black visitation stayed low through the 1970s because of fear of violence and local custom.

The park is at 103 State Park Road in Doyline, Webster Parish, on 903 acres, with seven cabins and five trails by the state's count. The lake is drawn down regularly to fight giant salvinia, an invasive plant, so water levels vary.