Elkhorn Lake

Elkhorn Lake sits at the top of the Minnesota PCA grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Minnesota. 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. Elkhorn Lake reaches 41 ft at its deepest point — typical for Minnesota mid-sized lakes, with seasonal stratification but limited cold-water refuge. At 79 acres, Elkhorn Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Within Kandiyohi County's 35 graded waters, Elkhorn Lake sits at rank 5, near the top of the local distribution.

Elkhorn 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 Elkhorn Lake, one of 15 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.