Alva Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Alva Lake pulls an A: clarity at 19.5 ft and 12 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI value of 37 puts Alva Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Alva Lake reaches 43 ft at its deepest point — typical for Wisconsin mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. The lake's 199 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Among the 134 graded lakes in Oneida County, Alva Lake ranks 6 — in the top quartile locally.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at Alva Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Alva Lake, one of 5 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Alva Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.