Augusta Lake

Augusta Lake sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. Secchi readings are the weakest of the three parameters, suggesting suspended sediment or algal biomass dominates the optical signal.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. Augusta Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 82 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. Augusta Lake covers 187 acres alongside 4.8 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Augusta Lake sits at rank 30 of 55 in Stearns County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Augusta Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. Walleye are documented at Augusta Lake, one of 18 fish species on record for the lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.