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Woodland Lake Park & Big Springs Environmental Area |  | Description: Woodland Lake Park, nestled in the middle of the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside, provides exceptional wildlife viewing experiences. The site has open water, marshland, ponderosa pine, Gambel oak, and juniper forests. There are numerous trails, including a paved trail, picnic areas with ramadas, a man-made lake, interpretive signage, and benches. Wildlife at this site are accustomed to human presence and are easy to view and photograph from trails. Big Springs Environmental Area is connected to the park with a well designed trail system. The area was developed for environmental education purposes for local schools and includes interpretive trail signage. | |
Wildlife to Watch: Walking the Lake Loop Trail in the summer provides opportunity to see osprey, turkey vulture, doubled-crested cormorant, pied-billed grebe, great blue heron, belted kingfisher, and Wilson’s snipe. Lewis’s and acorn woodpecker, dark-eyed junco, and ruby-crowned kinglet are regulars. In spring and summer months, look for common yellowthroat, red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, chipping sparrow, broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds, lesser goldfinch, yellow-rumped warbler, house wren, purple martin, western tanager, western and mountain bluebirds, mountain chickadee, white-breasted and pygmy nuthatches, brown creeper, and violet-green, barn, tree, and northern rough-winged swallows. In the winter months, look for bald eagle, bufflehead, American wigeon, canvasback, ring-necked duck, cedar waxwing, and white-crowned sparrow. |
Special Tips: Spring is a good time to see cinnamon teal and ruddy ducks in their colorful breeding plumage. |
Other Activities: A variety of trails is found within the Woodland Lake Park system. The Lake Loop Trail is approximately 1 mile in length. The Hitching Post Loop is 2 miles long and leads to the Big Springs area. Other trails on this site are dirt packed and provide good hiking and mountain biking. |
Ownership: U.S.D.A. Forest Service/managed by Town of Pinetop/Lakeside
Size: 580 acres
Closest Town: Pinetop/Lakeside |
Facilities:
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