Butterfield Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Butterfield Lake pulls an A: clarity at 13.1 ft and 15 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. Butterfield Lake reaches 23 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. Butterfield Lake covers 194 acres alongside 4.0 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Butterfield Lake sits at rank 63 of 120 in Crow Wing County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Butterfield Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Butterfield Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. No formal public access is documented at Butterfield Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. The lake has a partial ice record — 8 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 15. 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.