White Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, White Lake pulls an A: clarity at 17.0 ft and 11 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Wisconsin. With clarity and phosphorus scored, the sub-grades cluster within a letter of each other, pointing to stable conditions rather than one specific stressor.

The lake's low TSI puts it in oligotrophic territory — the cleanest of the four trophic classes, but also the most vulnerable to nutrient-driven shifts. The lake's 60 ft maximum depth is in the upper tier for Wisconsin — deep enough for cold-water fish to find refuge in summer. White Lake is small — 81 acres alongside partial shoreline records — which makes it sensitive to even modest changes in watershed runoff or recreational pressure. White Lake ranks 1 of 13 in Marquette County, putting it in the upper tier of locally monitored lakes.

Eurasian watermilfoil is established at White Lake, which can dampen recreational access and pressure the native plant community. The fishery includes walleye among the lake's 4 documented species — a notable draw for Wisconsin anglers. 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.