Bahr Lake

Bahr Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Shawano County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake bottoms out at 44 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 7 acres, Bahr Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Within Shawano County's 27 graded waters, Bahr Lake sits at rank 5, near the top of the local distribution.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at Bahr Lake, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 4, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.