Rice Lake Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Iowa DNR - Wildlife
24 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Lake Mills
Lake Mills has 39 acres of parks, 18 for every 1,000 residents
77% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 5% of Lake Mills’ land is conserved, about 82 acres. 0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Lake Mills, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
5%
82 acres · of 2.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
39 ac
18 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
77%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Lake Mills have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lake Mills is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, trail miles lowest.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Mills’ overall grade.
Conserved land5% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land18 acres of park per 1,000 residents (39 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13BParks close to home77% of residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 62%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Wood Duck Marsh Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Iowa DNR - Wildlife
17 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
82 conserved acres
5% of Lake Mills’ land. Who manages Lake Mills’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
USDA easements (NRCS)45 ac
State natural resources43 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service1 ac
Conservation Easement · 45 acState Conservation Area · 39 acState Other or Unknown · 4 acResource Management Area · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 38 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Lake Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 20 | Open |
| Wood Duck Marsh Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 19 | Open |
| Rice Lake State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 4 | Open |
| Winnebago County Waterfowl Production Area Of Ia Resource Management Area | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 1 | Restricted |
| Winnebago County Waterfowl Production Area Resource Management Area | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 1 | Restricted |
Things to do
3 places to go in Lake Mills
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Lake Mills
Lake Mills Aquatic CenterIn Oakwood Park
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Lake Mills
Oakwood Park PlaygroundIn Oakwood Park
DirectionsPlus 1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
6Baseball
2Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The walking year in Lake Mills
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 23 | 28 | 41 | 56 | 69 | 79 | 81 | 79 | 73 | 59 | 42 | 29 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 5.4 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 5.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Lake Mills →
Questions about parks and trails in Lake Mills
How much of Lake Mills is conserved land?
5% of its land, against a typical 3% for an Iowa town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Lake Mills’ trails?
Rice Lake Wildlife Management Area and Wood Duck Marsh Wildlife Management Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Lake Mills?
6,782 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lake Mills or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 43 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Lake Mills have?
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Lake Mills neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →