Friendship Lake

Friendship Lake carries a solid B grade — strong on most parameters, with measurements that hold up well across the summer season. 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 sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Wisconsin lakes fall. The lake bottoms out at 15 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 125 acres, Friendship Lake fits the Wisconsin median for monitored lakes, with partial shoreline records. Within the 20 graded lakes of Adams County, Friendship Lake sits at rank 19, near the bottom of the county list.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at Friendship Lake, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 4 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.