Wheeler Lake

Wheeler Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Oconto County. 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.

A TSI value of 28 puts Wheeler Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. The lake's 281 acres and partial shoreline records put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Wheeler Lake sits at rank 49 of 66 in Oconto County, in the lower half of the local distribution.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Wheeler Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 5 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.