Blackwater Lake

Blackwater Lake pulls a D on the LakeGrade rubric — phosphorus loading and limited clarity hold it below the Minnesota 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 72 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 601 acres, Blackwater Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 10.1 miles of shoreline. Blackwater Lake ranks 132 of 141 in Itasca County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

An invasive species record — faucet snail — has been logged at Blackwater Lake; Minnesota PCA maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Blackwater Lake, one of 14 fish species on record for the 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.