Brazee Lake

Brazee Lake earns an F: phosphorus readings still being added and clarity at 0.8 ft signal heavy nutrient loading from the surrounding watershed. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

A TSI above 70 puts Brazee Lake in hypereutrophic territory: visible blooms are common, and clarity rarely climbs even in early summer. At only 5 ft deep, Brazee Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. The lake's 148 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within Dane County's 23 graded lakes, Brazee Lake ranks 14 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Brazee Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Brazee Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. 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.