Big Rice Lake vs Moose Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Moose Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Big Rice Lake. Both are in Beltrami County, Minnesota.
Both Big Rice Lake and Moose Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. Moose Lake reads materially cleaner than Big Rice Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Moose Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Big Rice Lake
Murky, only visible to about 5.7 ft.
Moose Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15.1 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Big Rice Lake | Moose Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 5.7 ft | 15.1 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 26 µg/L | 11 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 11.4 µg/L | 2.2 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 13 ft | 71 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 642 acres | 601 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 14 Better | 12 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | oligotrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
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Compare Big Rice Lake or Moose Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Moose Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Big Rice Lake. Water clarity: 15.1 ft vs 5.7 ft. For more fish-species variety, Big Rice Lake edges ahead with 14 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.