Native Americans inhabited the Goose Lake Valley for thousands of years before explorers arrived in the 19th century.

The pioneer wagon route known as the Applegate Trail crossed the Goose Lake Valley on its way to southern Oregon.

The Goose Lake Valley offers a number of recreational opportunities including hang-gliding, hunting, fishing, and birdwatching.

Its underlying strata were formed by Pliocene and Pleistocene lava flows covered by Holocene sedimentary deposits.

[2] The entire valley was once covered by a single vast pluvial lake that may have been 300 feet (91 m) deep during the Pleistocene epoch.

[5][8][10] The climate in the Goose Lake Valley is typical of the high desert country of south-central Oregon.

These include lakes, marshes, riparian areas, grasslands, sage steppes, dry forests, and mountain rimrocks.

Big sagebrush, bitterbrush, bunchgrass, and fescue are typical ground cover in the steppe and grassland areas.

Wildflowers found in the Goose Lake Valley area include common yarrow, camas, larkspur, elephant-head flower, blazing star, and crane orchids.

[18] The Goose Lake Valley is on the western flyway from Mexico to bird breeding grounds in the Arctic.

Shorebirds such as American avocets, willets, killdeer, western grebe, and long-billed curlew nest near the lake.

The wetlands north of the lake provide breeding areas for Canada geese and sandhill cranes as well as mallard and other duck species.

The north shore wetlands are also an important breeding area for Clark's grebes, white-faced ibis, and great egret.

During periods of drought, these muddy areas can almost encircle the lake, destroying islands that birds normally use as breeding habitat.

In the cottonwood and willow habitats of the open valley, there are Bullock's orioles, tree swallows, American goldfinch, and northern flicker as well as bluebirds, warblers, vireos, and sapsucker.

In the stream environment, the redbands normally reach 12 to 14 inches (30 to 36 cm) in length during their five-year life span.

[18][21][22][23] Native Americans used the Goose Lake Valley for thousands of years before the first Europeans people arrived.

The first explorer to record his travel through the valley was John Work, who led a Hudson's Bay Company trapping expedition in 1832.

The Applegate Trail rounded the south end of the lake and continued west toward the Klamath country of southern Oregon.

The other fork, known as the Lassen Cutoff, headed south across Devil's Garden and then followed the Pit River to the Sacramento Valley.

On 26 September 1849, Warner was ambushed and killed by Indians on his way back to the Goose Lake Valley camp.

The construction company was able to secure thousands of acres of valuable grazing land in the Goose Lake Valley.

Fort Warner, located 18 miles (29 km) northeast of the Goose Lake Valley, became Crook's headquarters.

Crook's troops regularly passed through the Goose Lake Valley in pursuit of Indian raiders.

[3][28] After the Indian treaty was signed at Fort Harney on December 10, 1868, settlers began to arrive in the Goose Lake Valley.

[39] Doctor Bernard Daly played a very important role in the early economic development of the Goose Lake Valley.

The sustained yield unit, in place since the late 1940s, requires a significant portion of the timber harvested from Fremont National Forest lands to be sold to mills located within 7 miles (11 km) of Lakeview.

[43] The mountain watersheds that drain into the valley from the north, west, and east are all part of the Fremont National Forest.

[8][45] These public lands in and around the Goose Lake Valley offer numerous recreational opportunities including hang-gliding, hunting, fishing, hiking, birdwatching, wildlife viewing, boating, and camping.

The campground has paved parking, public restrooms, picnic table, fire rings, and 48 spaces for trailers or recreation vehicles.