Pomona Lake impounds Dragoon and 110 Mile Creeks, just a few miles above their confluence with the Marais des Cygnes River. Here, in the Osage Cuestas, the tallgrass prairie adjoins valleys of black and chinquapin oak, and shagbark and bitternut hickory.

To become familiar with area plants and animals, walk Witches' Broom Nature Trail in the Army Corps of Engineers park and the Ah-Ke-Ta trail in the state park.  Blackhawk Trail, on the north side of the lake on Corps property, provides an opportunity for a long hike as it wanders through the woodlands lining 110 Mile Cove.  Cottonwood, hackberry, and American elm are common in the riparian timber. Thickets of aromatic sumac, smooth sumac, and rough-leaved dogwood provide good cover for many species of wildlife. More than 4,000 acres are managed for wildlife. Plantings for food and cover include native grasses, alternating weed strips, and standing crops.

Spend some time at the state park office viewing the bird feeder through the big window. Bird visitors include red-bellied woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, purple finches, and Carolina wrens. In winter you can see bald eagles perched on tall lakeshore trees and rough-legged hawks over the prairie. Throughout migrations you can expect to see snow and Canada geese, buffleheads, goldeneyes, mergansers, mallards, teal, wigeons, pintails, and pelicans. In the mudflats there are killdeer, dowitchers, and yellowlegs. Watch the woodlands for squirrels along with warbIers, vireos, and buntings. White-tailed deer, eastern cottontails, eastern woodrats, raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and coyotes are also present.