The Meadows Center provides educational programs, recreation, hands-on activities and collaborative projects that encourage visitors, scientists and students to learn about Spring Lake's habitat, endangered species and water/environmental resource management issues.

There are glass-bottom boat rides, and the Discovery Center provides educational displays allowing people to view native animals and fish.

The Meadows Center at Spring Lake Hall houses the Texas Stream Team, a volunteer program that monitors the water quality of freshwater systems throughout the state.

Spring Lake has been visited by notable individuals including Robert E. Lee, Jay Gould, and Helen Miller Shepard.

In the 1950s, construction of a submarine theater and large spillway at one end of the lake to produce a swimming pool led to the opening of Aquarena Springs, an amusement park, at the site in 1951.

[9] The new Meadows Center was created with an emphasis on habitat reclamation and environmental goals, adding a Wetlands Boardwalk in a shallow area of Spring Lake.

The boardwalk, made of recycled plastic lumber, floats on the water and circles a marshy area that showcases the flora and fauna of a wetland ecosystem.

It led the search for Henry Morgan's lost fleet, and played a role in rediscovering the Satisfaction in 2011. while exploring caves in Mexico, Spring Lake, and shipwrecks.

They oversee the Spring Lake Management Plan, which is designed to protect healthy ecosystems, provide research and educational opportunities, and offer access for service activities.