Bemidji Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Bemidji Lake pulls an A: clarity at 12.5 ft and 17 µg/L of phosphorus 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 sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. The lake's 76 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 6,596 acres, Bemidji Lake is one of the larger lakes in Beltrami County, with 14.7 miles of shoreline supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Bemidji Lake ranks 37 of 86 in Beltrami County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Bemidji Lake, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. Muskie are on the species list at Bemidji Lake, alongside the lake's 16 other documented fish. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. 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.