Beauty Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Beauty Lake pulls an A: clarity at 21.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

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. Beauty Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 53 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. The lake is compact at 55 acres, with 1.7 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Among the 77 graded lakes in Hubbard County, Beauty Lake ranks 18 — in the top quartile locally.

No invasive species are currently listed at Beauty Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 7 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Beauty 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.