Saganaga Lake

Saganaga Lake earns an A — every scored parameter (clarity and phosphorus) rates among the best monitored waters in Cook County. The two scored sub-grades — clarity and phosphorus — track close together, so neither one is dragging the average down.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. The lake's surface area is not consistently recorded across state datasets — physical context remains partial. Saganaga Lake ranks 34 of 128 in Cook County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Saganaga Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Saganaga Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. 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.