Located about 12 miles north of Scott City in west central Kansas, Lake Scott State Park is an oasis with something for everyone. There are furnished cabins to rent and campgrounds beside the spring-fed lake which offers fishing, swimming, and boating. There are nature trails to adjacent wildlife areas and several important historical sites, including ruins of El Cuartelejo, the northernmost known Native American pueblo.
Protected now by KDWP, the springs once were a dependable source of water for the inhabitants of the short grass prairie. Today they serve as critical habitat for the endangered aquatic Scott riffle beetle, which has been found nowhere else. A part of “Wild Kansas” that belongs to us all, this tiny beetle, about half the length of a grain of rice, lives underwater eating aquatic vegetation and debris while breathing through an air bubble under its abdomen.