Fountain Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Fountain Lake pulls an A: clarity at 72.2 ft and phosphorus readings still being added put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. 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.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. The lake is compact at 16 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Within Portage County's 29 graded lakes, Fountain Lake ranks 16 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

An invasive species record — Banded Mystery Snail — has been logged at Fountain Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 2, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. 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.