Roger Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Roger Lake pulls an A: clarity at 16.0 ft and phosphorus readings still being added put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

A TSI value of 37 puts Roger Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Roger Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 64 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. Roger Lake covers 240 acres alongside 2.5 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Within Crow Wing County's 120 graded waters, Roger Lake sits at rank 11, near the top of the local distribution.

No invasive species are currently listed at Roger Lake — the lake remains off the Minnesota infested-waters roster. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 12 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. A documented public access point at Roger Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. The lake has a partial ice record — 5 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 25. 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.