Hill River Lake

Hill River Lake pulls a D on the LakeGrade rubric — phosphorus loading and limited clarity hold it below the Minnesota average. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

At a TSI of 62, Hill River Lake reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. Hill River Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 60 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. Hill River Lake covers 102 acres alongside 2.7 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within the 20 graded lakes of Polk County, Hill River Lake sits at rank 18, near the bottom of the county list.

No invasive species are currently listed at Hill River Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 13 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. 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.