Ember Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Ember Lake pulls an A: clarity at 14.1 ft and 18 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. 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 42 places Ember Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 45 ft puts Ember Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. The lake is compact at 59 acres, with 1.3 miles of shoreline and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Within Wright County's 64 graded waters, Ember Lake sits at rank 12, near the top of the local distribution.

Ember Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 9, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.