Grace Lake vs Swenson Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Swenson Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Grace Lake. Both are in Beltrami County, Minnesota.
Grace Lake and Swenson Lake are both in Minnesota — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. The readings are meaningfully apart: Swenson Lake carries clearly lower phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings than Grace Lake. A spread that wide reflects real underlying differences, in watershed inputs, depth profiles, or monitoring rigor.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Swenson 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?
Grace Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.
Swenson Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 20.7 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Grace Lake | Swenson Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 15 ft | 20.7 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 21.5 µg/L | 8 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 9.3 µg/L | 2 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 42 ft | 76 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 860 acres | 412 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | No |
| Fish Species | 13 Better | 10 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | 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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Verdict
Swenson Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Grace Lake. Water clarity: 20.7 ft vs 15 ft. For more fish-species variety, Grace Lake edges ahead with 13 documented species.
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.