Swede Lake

Swede Lake earns an F: 139 µg/L of phosphorus and clarity at 2.3 ft signal heavy nutrient loading from the surrounding watershed. With clarity and phosphorus scored, the sub-grades cluster within a letter of each other, pointing to stable conditions rather than one specific stressor.

Hypereutrophic conditions mean the lake is operating at the upper end of the productivity scale, with all the bloom risk that implies. Swede Lake is a shallow lake at 12 ft maximum depth, which means it warms quickly, mixes constantly, and amplifies nutrient inputs. At 433 acres, Swede Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 3.7 miles of shoreline. Within the 40 graded lakes of Carver County, Swede Lake sits at rank 36, near the bottom of the county list.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Swede Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 9, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. The lake has a long ice-out record — 28 observations on file, with a median ice-out around Mar 30. 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.