Irving Lake

Irving Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Trophically, Irving Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. A maximum depth of just 8 ft means sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the water column whenever wind stirs the bottom — a classic shallow-lake dynamic. At 419 acres, Irving Lake fits the Wisconsin median for monitored lakes, with partial shoreline records. Among the 202 graded lakes in Vilas County, Irving Lake sits at rank 92, above the county median.

Irving Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2019, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Walleye are documented at Irving Lake, one of 4 fish species on record for the lake. A documented public access point at Irving Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.