Mckenzie Lake

On the LakeGrade scale Mckenzie Lake grades a B, with clarity at 7.0 ft and 26 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Wisconsin median. 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.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. A maximum depth of 25 ft puts Mckenzie Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. Mckenzie Lake is small — 52 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Among the 74 graded lakes in Polk County, Mckenzie Lake sits at rank 35, above the county median.

An invasive species record — Chinese Mystery Snail — has been logged at Mckenzie Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. The fishery is bass-led, with 3 documented species across the lake's records. A documented public access point at Mckenzie 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.