Gibson Lake

Gibson Lake earns a D — measurements through 2024 show persistent nutrient pressure that limits clarity through the summer. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. At only 12 ft deep, Gibson Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. Gibson Lake is small — 42 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Gibson Lake ranks 67 of 74 in Polk County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Gibson Lake — the lake remains off the Wisconsin infested-waters roster. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Gibson Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. 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.