Cowdry Lake

Cowdry Lake sits at the top of the Minnesota PCA grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Minnesota. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

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. The lake's 52 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Minnesota — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. Cowdry Lake covers 243 acres alongside 3.1 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within Douglas County's 51 graded waters, Cowdry Lake sits at rank 3, near the top of the local distribution.

Cowdry 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 19 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 partial ice record — 13 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 19. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.