Lake Sylvia State Park

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Lake Sylvia State Park is a 233acre state-operated, public recreation area bordering the north edge of Montesano in Grays Harbor County, Washington. The park is located in dense temperate rain forest.The park offers swimming, hiking, camping, fishing, and non-motored boating. It was built around an old lumber mill pond, which was used for a few years to power the town's first electrical generation plant. The rustic dam that powered the mill and the power plant remains at the western end of the lake and feeds the lower reaches of Sylvia Creek.The park is home to a mixed flock of mallard ducks and Canadian geese. A family of ospreys, as well as occasional bald eagles, also occupy the lake area. There is also a small group of beavers living along Sylvia Creek, which flows from the lake.The municipal watershed of Montesano lies above the head of the lake, at the eastern end of Lake Sylvia, and is accessible by foot through the park. The city watershed is managed very similarly to a national forest and serves as a corridor for wildlife to enter and leave the park and the northern parts of the town.