Round Lake National Natural Landmark lies within Green Lakes State Park, which lies a few miles east of the city of Syracuse, New York and adjoining the village of Fayetteville. Round Lake itself and the adjoining 59 acres (24 ha) of old-growth forest were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1973 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Hubert W. Vogelmann, a professor of botany at the University of Vermont, wrote the evaluation to the National Park Service that concurred with the recommendation of National Natural Landmark status for the region around Round Lake. Vogelmann's evaluation noted the "outstanding virgin mesophytic forest" adjoining Round Lake on its southwestern side; this text became part of the citation when the landmark was created. Vogelmann also noted Round Lake's importance as an extremely rare, "meromictic" lake. It shares this distinction with Green Lake, which lies a few hundred meters to the east.

Green Lakes State Park is a New York State Park located east of Syracuse in the Town of Manlius. The park is strikingly scenic, and has a "masterpiece" golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones very early in his career. Green Lake itself is perhaps the most studied meromictic lake—one in which layers of water do not mix—in the world. The park preserves the largest stand of old growth forest in Central New York, and Round Lake has been designated as a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.