Lake Management Plan

go to PGOLID main pageChapter 1 includes an introduction and abstract
Chapter 2 includes the goals of PGOLID
Chapter 3 history covers geological formation to current district projects
Chapter 4 covers watershed characteristics of most of northwest Minnesota
Chapter 5 covers the main watershed around the Pelican Lakes
Chapter 6 covers the minor watersheds that surround Pelican Lake
Chapter 7 describes the types of data collected and why
Chapter 8 reports the data and water quality of inlets and outlets to Pelican Lake
Chapter 9 reports the water quality data for the Pelican Lakes

Chapter 10
Chapter 11 Safety and Buoys

 

Questions?
PGOLID Water Resource Coordinator
218-846-1465, email

Chapter 9: Lake Water Quality

back to main Fish Lake page

Fish Lake Water Transparency

more information water transparency

Fish Lake has been monitored from 2003 to 2011 at site 201. The average transparency is 12.7 ft.

The south bay of Fish Lake (Echo Bay) is some of the only shoreline in the Pelican group of lakes that is still undeveloped. It is not sandy, but is lined with reeds and cattails, which make excellent habitat for aquatic animals and fish.

Due to a new development project in this area, site 202 was monitored in 2007 and 2008 to get a good picture of baseline water quality. In the future, these results can be compared to the water quality during and after construction to see if there is any change.

2011 Results

In 2011, only site 201 was monitored.

Site Mean (ft) Min (ft) Max (ft)
201 14.8 12 19

Historical Results (2007-2008)

In 2007-2008, both sites 201 and 202 were monitored. They show similar results. The results at site 202 reinforced the conclusion that Echo Bay has excellent water quality for the group of lakes, and that this water quality should be maintained and this undeveloped land should be protected.

Site Mean (ft) Min (ft) Max (ft)
201 11.2 9.5 14.3
202 11.5 9.0 16

Site 201

Fish Lake transparency ranges from 6 to 20 feet throughout the summer. The figure above shows the seasonal transparency dynamics. Fish Lake transparency varies greatly year to year, but shows an overall slight decline throughout the summer. After fall turnover the transparency most likely recovers to near spring levels, but there are not much data past mid-September for Fish Lake, so this pattern is not shown. This pattern is typical for a lake of this depth in Minnesota. The transparency dynamics have to do with algae population dynamics and lake turnover.

The median transparency at this lake from 1995 to 2011 increased by 0.48 feet per decade. Given the variability over these years, this is evidence for a possible long-term trend. A plausible range for the long-term trend is between no trend and an increase of 1.37 feet per decade.

Site 202

Site 202 (Echo Bay) was only monitored in 2007-2008.

to next page: Fish Lake chlorophyll-a results

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© Copyright 2007 Pelican Group of Lakes Improvement District