Halfbreed Lake

On the scoring rubric Halfbreed Lake grades a D: clarity at 4.4 ft and phosphorus readings still being added keep it in the lower bracket for Washington County. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

At a TSI of 56, Halfbreed Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake bottoms out at 34 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 92 acres, Halfbreed Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Halfbreed Lake ranks 28 of 31 in Washington County — at the lower end of the locally monitored distribution.

Halfbreed Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2020, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery is bass-led, with 10 documented species across the lake's records. No formal public access is documented at Halfbreed Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. The lake has a partial ice record — 6 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 18. 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.