Dowling Lake

Dowling Lake pulls a D on the LakeGrade rubric — phosphorus loading and limited clarity hold it below the Wisconsin average. Clarity is the limiting factor — phosphorus is reasonable but suspended particles or algal cells keep water transparency below Wisconsin norms.

At a TSI of 62, Dowling Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. A maximum depth of just 13 ft means sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the water column whenever wind stirs the bottom — a classic shallow-lake dynamic. Dowling Lake covers 141 acres alongside partial shoreline records — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within Douglas County's 40 graded lakes, Dowling Lake ranks 26 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

An invasive species record — Curly-Leaf Pondweed — has been logged at Dowling Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Dowling Lake, one of 5 fish species on record for the lake. 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.