Bear Lake

On the scoring rubric Bear Lake grades a D: clarity at 6.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Stearns County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. The lake's surface area is not consistently recorded across state datasets — physical context remains partial. Bear Lake sits at rank 38 of 55 in Stearns County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Bear Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Bear Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty 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.