Yuba State Park and Recreation Area, conveniently located in central Utah, offers a variety of recreation opportunities. Warm summer water temperatures, sandy beaches, nearby off-highway vehicle areas, and fishing for walleye, trout and yellow perch attract visitors year-round.

At an elevation of 5,100 feet, Yuba Recreation Area is 25 miles south of Nephi, just off Interstate 15. When full, the reservoir measures 22 miles long with a maximum depth of 80 feet. Yuba Reservoir is the largest of many water impoundments on the Sevier River with a capacity of 250,000 acre-feet of water.

Utah State Parks and Recreation and the USDI Bureau of Land Management cooperatively manage this recreation area.

Long ago, ancient Native Americans inhabited the area. Stone tools, broken pottery, rock art, and other traces of those cultures are visible today along what used to be the Sevier River. Petroglyphs or rock art may be viewed by boat at Painted Rocks just north of the boat ramp. Remnants of prehistoric camps are located in several places around the reservoir. More recent ranching and mining activity is also evident. Visitors who discover artifacts, should leave them in place and notify Utah State Parks and Recreation or the Bureau of Land Management.

Fathers Dominguez and Escalante left Santa Fe, New Mexico in July 1776 to find an overland route to Monterey, California. Their well-documented exploration took them through this area in September 1776 where they taught Native Americans about Christianity. Modern historic markers depicting the route are located north of the reservoir.

Yuba Reservoir, officially named Sevier Bridge Reservoir, was built to store water from the Sevier River for agricultural and industrial uses. Construction on the dam, now called Yuba Dam, began in 1902 and was completed in 1917. Yuba was named by the individuals who built the dam. Local farmers and ranchers had to build the dam themselves or risk losing their water rights. Men working on the structure called it the U. B. Dam. As they worked, they sang a song that stated they were damned if they worked and damned if they didn't. The phonetic sound of the reservoirs name was eventually spelled Yuba. In 1969, Yuba became a state park.