Beltrami Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Beltrami Lake pulls an A: clarity at 11.0 ft and 15 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. The lake's 50 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 726 acres, Beltrami Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 7.2 miles of shoreline. Among the 86 graded lakes in Beltrami County, Beltrami Lake sits at rank 41, above the county median.

Starry stonewort has been recorded at Beltrami Lake — a relatively new invasive in Minnesota that forms dense, hard-to-remove mats. Walleye are documented at Beltrami Lake, one of 16 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Beltrami Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been logged at Beltrami Lake more than two dozen times, putting the median around Apr 20 — a useful baseline for tracking climate trends. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.