Buck Lake

Buck Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. 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. A maximum depth of 31 ft puts Buck Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake's 495 acres and 4.9 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within Itasca County's 141 graded lakes, Buck Lake ranks 75 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

No invasive species are currently listed at Buck Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Buck Lake, one of 12 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Buck Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been recorded 13 times at Buck Lake, with a median around Apr 21. 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.