Mckeown Lake

Mckeown Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Cass 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.

A TSI value of 37 puts Mckeown Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. A maximum depth of 37 ft puts Mckeown Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. Mckeown Lake covers 168 acres alongside 4.0 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 133 graded lakes in Cass County, Mckeown Lake sits at rank 36, above the county median.

Mckeown Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2023, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Mckeown Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. No formal public access is documented at Mckeown Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. Ice-out has been recorded 15 times at Mckeown Lake, with a median around Apr 18. 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.