Briar Lake

Briar Lake pulls a D on the LakeGrade rubric — phosphorus loading and limited clarity hold it below the Minnesota average. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. The lake bottoms out at 21 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake is compact at 79 acres, with 2.6 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Within the 187 graded lakes of St. Louis County, Briar Lake sits at rank 161, near the bottom of the county list.

Briar Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The lake's fish records list 3 species — a varied community without one dominant gamefish. A documented public access point at Briar Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 6 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 24. 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.