Cranberry Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric Cranberry Lake fails the cutoffs — a TSI of 67 and persistent algal pressure put it in the bottom tier. 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.

A TSI in the eutrophic range signals a lake doing what nutrient-loaded waters do — supporting an active algal community at the cost of clear water. Cranberry Lake is a shallow lake at 8 ft maximum depth, which means it warms quickly, mixes constantly, and amplifies nutrient inputs. The lake is compact at 10 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Cranberry Lake ranks 5 of 6 in Taylor County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Cranberry Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2022, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 2, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. 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.