Heart Lake

Heart Lake earns an A — every scored parameter (clarity and phosphorus) rates among the best monitored waters in Beltrami County. With clarity and phosphorus scored, the sub-grades cluster within a letter of each other, pointing to stable conditions rather than one specific stressor.

Trophically, Heart Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. The lake's surface area is not consistently recorded across state datasets — physical context remains partial. Among the 92 graded lakes in Beltrami County, Heart Lake sits at rank 29, above the county median.

Heart Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Heart 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.