Big Lake Wetlands Conservation Area
Managed by Skagit Land Trust
73 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Big Lake
Few parks or trails are on the map in Big Lake
1 acre is park or preserve, 0.4 per 1,000 residents. 7% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 2% of Big Lake’s land is conserved, about 83 acres.
Ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
83 acres · of 7.7 sq mi of land
Trails
2.6 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
1 ac
0.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
7%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
1 boat launch
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Big Lake have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Big Lake is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Big Lake’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical WA town 4% · U.S. 4%C+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · WA 0.8 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land0.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1 acre) · WA 11 · U.S. 13DParks close to home7% of residents within a half mile of a park · WA 92% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 18%
LessMore
Water is 10% of Big Lake’s area (1 of 8 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 2%.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Big Lake. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. 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.
Who protects it
83 conserved acres
2% of Big Lake’s land. Water is left out: Big Lake has 7.7 square miles of land and 0.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Big Lake’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other or Unknown Local Government82 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)80 ac
Unknown Easement · 82 acAgricultural Easement · 80 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 83 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 8 of 9 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
Things to do
1 places to go in Big Lake
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Big Lake
Big Lake Boat Launch
DirectionsTrails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
1Soccer
1Baseball
1Multi-sport
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Big Lake: May to September
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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 49 | 53 | 58 | 64 | 68 | 74 | 75 | 70 | 59 | 50 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 6.5 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 6.3 |
July is the driest month (1.3 in) and August the warmest (highs of 75 °F). 7.4 inches fall in November, the wettest month. The climate in Big Lake →
Next door
Big Lake and its neighbors
Big Lake has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Lake | 2% | 0.3 | under 1 | 7% | C− |
| Mount Vernon | 11% | 2.4 | 22 | 91% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Big Lake
How much of Big Lake is conserved land?
2% of its land, against a typical 4% for a Washington town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Big Lake’s trails?
Big Lake Wetlands Conservation Area doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Big Lake?
44,890 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Big Lake or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 162 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Big Lake have?
Ahead of 18% 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 Big Lake 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 →