Forest Lake

The LakeGrade rubric puts Forest Lake at a C: clarity at 8.0 ft, phosphorus readings still being added, and a TSI of 47 signal an intermediate trophic state.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. A maximum depth of 37 ft puts Forest Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. With 2,271 acres of surface and 15.7 miles of shoreline, Forest Lake is a large water by Minnesota standards — recreational pressure is spread across a long shoreline. Among the 31 graded lakes in Washington County, Forest Lake sits at rank 15, above the county median.

Forest 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. Forest Lake's fishery is anchored by muskellunge, with 18 documented species in total — a destination water for muskie anglers. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. Ice-out has been logged at Forest Lake more than two dozen times, putting the median around Apr 9 — a useful baseline for tracking climate trends. 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.