Moose Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Moose Lake pulls an A: clarity at 14.1 ft and 11 µg/L of phosphorus 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.

A TSI value of 39 puts Moose Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. At 71 ft of maximum depth, Moose Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. Moose Lake covers 601 acres alongside 7.1 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 86 graded lakes in Beltrami County, Moose Lake sits at rank 36, above the county median.

Moose Lake is on the watch list for starry stonewort, an invasive macroalga that is difficult to control once established. Walleye are documented at Moose Lake, one of 12 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.