Spring Lake is located in

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

, United States, in the Maple Heights-Lake Desire census-designated place. It sits next to Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park, on the opposite side of Lake Desire. The lake also has fishing opportunities.

Description

Spring Lake has a watershed. It is classified as

oligotrophic An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments. Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates o ...

, and generally has clear water. However, algal growth is high and water quality appears to be decreasing over time. There is a bog located on the western shore of the lake. Spring Lake has suffered from infestation by aquatic noxious weeds. This problem is compounded by the lake's shallow shoreline area, including the bog, which is an ideal habitat for such plants. The most problematic weed in the lake is

Eurasian water milfoil ''Myriophyllum spicatum'' (Eurasian watermilfoil or spiked water-milfoil) is a submerged perennial aquatic plant which grows in still or slow-moving water. Eurasian watermilfoil is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but has a wide geograph ...

. Water milfoil is capable of forming dense mats, killing native plants and destroying aquatic ecosystems. Other noxious weeds in the lake include the fragrant water lily,

purple loosestrife ''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family Pr ...

, and yellow flag iris. As of 2010, control of the purple loosestrife and fragrant water lilies has been largely successful. Water milfoil continues to be a serious problem. The lake is stocked with thousands of

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

annually by the

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is a department of the government of the state of Washington, United States of America. The WDFW manages over a million acres of land, the bulk of which is generally open to the public, an ...

Brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

, and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

are naturally present in the lake as well. Shore access is limited to a single narrow ramp on the southwest shore of the lake.

Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park

Spring Lake is located within a large network of parks and trails. Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park is a park between Spring Lake and Lake Desire. Echo Peak is an summit between the two lakes, offering views of both. There are more than of trails between the lakes, and far more in the surrounding parks. The site was once industrial timberlands, but is now managed by King County Parks.

References

{{reflist Lakes of Washington (state) Lakes of King County, Washington Parks in King County, Washington