Lost Land Lake

Lost Land Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Trophically, Lost Land Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. A maximum depth of 21 ft puts Lost Land Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. At 1,264 acres, Lost Land Lake is one of the larger lakes in Sawyer County, with partial shoreline records supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Lost Land Lake ranks 12 of 52 in Sawyer County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Lost Land Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. Walleye are documented at Lost Land Lake, one of 6 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR 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.