Few parks or trails are on the map in Prairie Lake
8% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1 acre is park or preserve, 0.8 per 1,000 residents. 1.5 miles of mapped trail cross Prairie Lake.
Ahead of 8% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Prairie Lake have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Prairie Lake is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; conserved land comes closest.
Water is 5% of Prairie Lake’s area (2 of 35 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read under 1%.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
80 conserved acres
under 1% of Prairie Lake’s land. Water is left out: Prairie Lake has 33.2 square miles of land and 1.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Prairie Lake’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scattered Wildlife State Conservation Area | County | 79 | Restricted |
| Lakewood Park Local Park | County | 1 | Open |
| Northeastern States District Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 1 | Open |
2 places to go in Prairie Lake
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 boat launches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 lakes & rivers
The walking year in Prairie Lake
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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.9 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°F) | 22 | 27 | 40 | 54 | 67 | 77 | 81 | 78 | 70 | 56 | 40 | 27 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 1.2 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Prairie Lake →
Prairie Lake and its neighbors
Prairie Lake has the second most mapped trails of the 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Lake | under 1% | under 0.1 | 1 | 8% | D |
| Chetek | 1% | 0.1 | 12 | 79% | C+ |
| Chetek | 1% | 0.1 | 106 | 32% | C+ |
| Stanley | 1% | under 0.1 | 67 | 32% | C |
| Sioux Creek | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Prairie Lake
How much of Prairie Lake is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 4% for a Wisconsin town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Prairie Lake?
8,639 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Prairie Lake or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 2 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Prairie Lake have?
Ahead of 8% 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 Prairie Lake neighbors.
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 →