Lady Slipper Lake

Lady Slipper Lake grades an F: water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate poorly, placing it among the most stressed lakes monitored in Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI above 70 puts Lady Slipper Lake in hypereutrophic territory: visible blooms are common, and clarity rarely climbs even in early summer. At only 11 ft deep, Lady Slipper Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. At 286 acres, Lady Slipper Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 4.2 miles of shoreline. Lady Slipper Lake sits at rank 3 of 5 in Lyon County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Lady Slipper Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. Walleye are documented at Lady Slipper Lake, one of 6 fish species on record for the 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.