Wood Lake
Crow Wing County, MinnesotaView mapDirections
Minnesota PCA publishes the water-quality measurements for Wood Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- 43 ft max depth
- Limited data
Wood Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota has water-quality measurements published by Minnesota PCA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.3 µg/L.
Wood Lake is a cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota with an estimated average depth of about 43 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. No public access — the lake is private or restricted. Compared to the 84 other monitored lakes in Crow Wing County, Wood Lake ranks #38 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Minnesota DNR LakeFinder, last sampled 2021-09-19. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Wood Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water14.4 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Wood Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota DNR and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Wood Lake
These are the measurements Minnesota PCA publishes for Wood Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 14.4 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 3.3 µg/L. TSI 39.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 14.4ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 3.3µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 39 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Wood Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
DNR Reports & Resources
Minnesota DNR LakeFinder publishes lake survey, fish stocking, water access, and aquatic plant data for Wood Lake. 1 report on file.
These links open on the official state DNR websites (Wisconsin DNR survey PDFs · Minnesota DNR LakeFinder).
- —Aquatic Plant Report — East Wood (1522)Aquatic Plant Report · MN DNR LakeFinder
Lake Details
Max depth
~43 ft est.
Public access
No
Listed by Minnesota PCA
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Minnesota has not published bathymetry for Wood Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
79 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,293 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Wood Lake
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Fishing Wood Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2020–2021). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+1 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+1.4 µg/L/yr2 years
Nearby Lakes in Crow Wing County
Frequently asked questions about Wood Lake
Where is Wood Lake?
- Wood Lake is a lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. Its water-quality measurements are published by Minnesota PCA and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Wood Lake?
- Wood Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota has water-quality measurements published by Minnesota PCA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.3 µg/L.
Is Wood Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Wood Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Wood Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 43 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Can I fish at Wood Lake?
- Public access to Wood Lake is listed as no on the lake record, so confirm before you make the trip. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Minnesota's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Wood Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
51 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2020–2021. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency - Ambient Surface Water
MNPCA51 samples · 2020–2021
Analytical methods
- Field measurement/observation, generic method
- Phosphorus by Two Reagent Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Lake details from Minnesota DNR LakeFinder