Upper Red Lake: East Central

Upper Red Lake: East Central sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. 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.

At a TSI of 54, Upper Red Lake: East Central reads as eutrophic — nutrient-rich enough that summer algal growth and reduced clarity are expected, not unusual. The lake bottoms out at 15 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. With 119,294 acres of surface and 59.2 miles of shoreline, Upper Red Lake: East Central is a large water by Minnesota standards — recreational pressure is spread across a long shoreline. Within the 86 graded lakes of Beltrami County, Upper Red Lake: East Central sits at rank 83, near the bottom of the county list.

Starry stonewort has been recorded at Upper Red Lake: East Central — a relatively new invasive in Minnesota that forms dense, hard-to-remove mats. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 15 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. No formal public access is documented at Upper Red Lake: East Central — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. Ice-out has been recorded 16 times at Upper Red Lake: East Central, with a median around Apr 29. 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.