Henry Lake

Henry Lake earns an F: phosphorus readings still being added and clarity at 2.0 ft signal heavy nutrient loading from the surrounding watershed. 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. 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. Within the 14 graded lakes of Le Sueur County, Henry Lake sits at rank 14, near the bottom of the county list.

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