Van Zile Lake

Van Zile Lake sits at the top of the Wisconsin DNR grading rubric with an A, a mark reached by the cleanest lakes in Wisconsin. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI near 42 places Van Zile Lake in the mesotrophic band — moderate productivity, with seasonal swings between clearer spring water and richer late-summer conditions. A maximum depth of 17 ft puts Van Zile Lake in the middle of Wisconsin's depth distribution. The lake is compact at 78 acres, with partial shoreline records and little volume to buffer nutrient inputs. Within Forest County's 35 graded waters, Van Zile Lake sits at rank 7, near the top of the local distribution.

Van Zile Lake has no invasive species recorded in Wisconsin state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 3, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. A documented public access point at Van Zile Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. 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.