The lake is believed to have formed after a ground fire burned peat deposits, creating a large depression which filled with rainwater.

[2] There were attempts to drain the lake in the 1840s and 1850s, and it was connected to Pungo River via canal, but there have never been any major settlements around it.

It is a refuge for many migratory bird species, including snow geese, tundra swans.

[9][3] marsh birds, wood ducks, owls, and hawks.

Other species that inhabit the Pungo Lake area include red wolves, white-tailed deer, otters, bobcats, and alligators.