Long Lake 44-40e

Long Lake 44-40e earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Iron County. Sub-grades cluster within a single letter of each other, which usually means the lake is in stable trophic balance rather than fighting one specific stressor.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Wisconsin lakes fall. The lake bottoms out at 34 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 370 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Long Lake 44-40e ranks 16 of 34 in Iron County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at Long Lake 44-40e, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. Walleye are documented at Long Lake 44-40e, one of 6 fish species on record for the lake. 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.