Clearwater Lake

Clearwater Lake earns an A — every scored parameter (clarity) rates among the best monitored waters in Lake County.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. A maximum depth of 46 ft puts Clearwater Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake's 640 acres and 7.6 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 Lake County's 142 graded waters, Clearwater Lake sits at rank 1, near the top of the local distribution.

Clearwater Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2021, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Clearwater Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.