Pine Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Pine Lake pulls an A: clarity at 42.7 ft and 14 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI value of 32 puts Pine Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. A maximum depth of 34 ft puts Pine Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. The lake is compact at 88 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Among the 77 graded lakes in Polk County, Pine Lake ranks 3 — in the top quartile locally.

Pine Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Chinese Mystery Snail), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. 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.