Dora Lake

Dora Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. 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 near 49 places Dora Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. Dora Lake reaches 18 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. The lake's 423 acres and 6.8 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 Itasca County's 141 graded lakes, Dora Lake ranks 96 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Zebra mussels have been documented at Dora Lake, which alters the filter-feeding balance and can paradoxically increase water clarity while disrupting the food web. Walleye are documented at Dora Lake, one of 13 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Dora Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Ice-out has been recorded 8 times at Dora Lake, with a median around Apr 20. 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.