Maple Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Maple Lake pulls an A: clarity at 13.5 ft and phosphorus readings still being added put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. 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.

Trophically, Maple Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. A maximum depth of 45 ft puts Maple Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. Maple Lake is small — 76 acres alongside 2.1 miles of shoreline — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Maple Lake ranks 54 of 133 in Cass County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Maple Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Maple Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. No formal public access is documented at Maple Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. 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.