Star Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Star Lake pulls an A: clarity at 17.0 ft and 14 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Trophically, Star Lake reads as oligotrophic — nutrient-poor, clear, and ecologically more sensitive to disturbance than richer lakes. The lake bottoms out at 21 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. At 57 acres, Star Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Among the 62 graded lakes in Oconto County, Star Lake ranks 10 — in the top quartile locally.

Star Lake has at least one documented invasive species (Banded Mystery Snail), so boaters and anglers should observe clean-drain-dry steps when leaving the lake. The fishery is bass-led, with 2 documented species across the lake's records. 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.