Sheldon Lake State Park and Environmental Learning Center is a 2,789-acre state park in northeast Harris County along the Sheldon Lake reservoir, blending recreation and environmental education in wetlands, prairie, ponds, and recovering forest near Houston. The reservoir was built by the federal government in 1942 on Carpenter's Bayou to serve war-related industry along the Houston Ship Channel during World War II. Acquired by Texas Parks and Wildlife in 1952, the site became a refuge for migratory waterfowl, a public fishing lake, and a fish hatchery before opening in 1955 as the Sheldon Wildlife Management Area. After the hatchery closed in 1975, the land gradually returned to marsh, ponds, and woodland, and in 1984 it was redesignated as a state park.