Richter Lake

Richter Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Taylor 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 35 puts Richter Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's 50 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Wisconsin — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. At 43 acres, Richter Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 7 graded lakes in Taylor County, Richter Lake ranks 1 — in the top quartile locally.

An invasive species record — Rusty Crayfish — has been logged at Richter Lake; Wisconsin DNR maintains the official infested-waters list. 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.