Christner Lake

Christner Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 41 places Christner Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. The lake bottoms out at 16 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 36 acres, Christner Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 50 graded lakes in Sawyer County, Christner Lake ranks 10 — in the top quartile locally.

No invasive species are currently listed at Christner Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 2, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Multiple sampling years from the Wisconsin DNR Citizen Lake Monitoring Network back the grade, so the letter should hold steady absent a major watershed shift.