Lake Assessment Program - Deer Lake, Battle Lake, Pickerel Lake, Itasca County

The 2003 study was conducted at the request and with the assistance of the Deer Lake Watershed Association. All three lakes (Deer, Battle and Pickerel) were included as they are in the same watershed. Some previous data was available for Deer Lake based on some previous monitoring by MPCA and Itasca SWCD (1992 and 1993). A fairly comprehensive report that reviewed this previous data was created by the Natural Resources Information Providers in 2002. We draw heavily from that work and sought to bring the assessment up-to-date with data from 2003 and any other available data since the earlier studies. The current study, which included Battle and Pickerel lakes, was conducted in order to assess any changes in water quality which might have occurred since that time. In 2003 Deer, Pickerel and Battle were sampled on five occasions during the spring and summer of 2003. Participants in this effort included Steve Heiskary, Matt Lindon (MPCA) Noel Griese (Itasca SWCD), Dennis Carlson, Lawrence Blackmer, and Homer Stensrud (Deer Lake Watershed Association). CLMP readings were taken by Dennis Carlson, Lawrence Blackmer, Homer Stensrud and Mary Schideler AKA the Kayak Lady. Land-use and watershed information for Deer, Pickerel and Battle was assembled by Noel Griese, Itasca County SWCD. Phytoplankton analysis was conducted by Dr. Howard Markus, MPCA.