Little Pine Lake

Little Pine Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Crow Wing County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI near 45 places Little Pine Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 36 ft puts Little Pine Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. At 330 acres, Little Pine Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 6.2 miles of shoreline. Among the 120 graded lakes in Crow Wing County, Little Pine Lake sits at rank 54, above the county median.

Zebra mussel presence at Little Pine Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Little Pine Lake, one of 18 fish species on record for the lake. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Ice-out has been recorded 11 times at Little Pine Lake, with a median around Apr 20. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.