Roy Lake

Roy Lake sits at the top of the Minnesota PCA grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in 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 near 40 places Roy Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 26 ft puts Roy Lake in the middle of Minnesota's depth distribution. At 320 acres, Roy Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 5.7 miles of shoreline. Among the 120 graded lakes in Crow Wing County, Roy Lake sits at rank 57, above the county median.

Zebra mussel presence at Roy Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Roy Lake, one of 16 fish species on record for the lake. No formal public access is documented at Roy Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. The lake has a partial ice record — 5 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 10. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.