East Leaf Lake

East Leaf Lake comes in at a B on the grading rubric — a respectable showing for a Minnesota lake of its size and depth. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. A maximum depth of 43 ft puts East Leaf Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake's 404 acres and 4.4 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. East Leaf Lake ranks 75 of 97 in Otter Tail County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

East Leaf 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. Walleye are documented at East Leaf Lake, one of 19 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a partial ice record — 6 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 14. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.