Silver Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric Silver Lake fails the cutoffs — a TSI of 67 and persistent algal pressure put it in the bottom tier. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. A maximum depth of just 11 ft means sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the water column whenever wind stirs the bottom — a classic shallow-lake dynamic. Silver Lake is small — 50 acres alongside 3.0 miles of shoreline — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. Within the 5 graded lakes of Olmsted County, Silver Lake sits at rank 4, near the bottom of the county list.

Silver Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 13, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.