Maple Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Maple Lake pulls an A: clarity at 15.3 ft and 10 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Trophically, Maple Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. The lake bottoms out at 39 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. The lake's 255 acres and 3.5 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Among the 141 graded lakes in Itasca County, Maple Lake ranks 4 — in the top quartile locally.

Maple Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2020, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 13 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Maple Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.