Cedar Lake

Cedar Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Wright County. 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. Cedar Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 108 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. The lake's 790 acres and 7.2 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 Wright County's 64 graded waters, Cedar Lake sits at rank 11, near the top of the local distribution.

Cedar Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 16 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a long ice-out record — 70 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Apr 12. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.