Lake Assessment Program - Cedar Lake, Wright County

Cedar Lake is located near the city of Annandale in Wright County. With a surface area of about 807 acres, it is among the top five percent of lakes in the state in terms of size and with a maximum depth of 108 feet it is of typical depth for lakes of this region. The total watershed is about 13 square miles that drains to Cedar Lake. Cedar Lake is located in the North Central Hardwood Forest (NCHF) ecoregion. Land use in the watershed is characterized primarily by cultivated (48 percent) and water and marsh (22 percent) uses. These percentages are very comparable to other lake watersheds in this region of the state - North Central Hardwood Forests ecoregion. Cedar Lake was sampled during the summer of 1998 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff and citizens from the Cedar Lake Association (Association). Water quality data collected during the study reveal summer-mean total phosphorus (TP) concentration of 27 ?g/L, chlorophyll a of 11.6 ?g/L and Secchi transparency of 5.9 feet. All three measures are within the range of values exhibited by reference lakes in the NCHF ecoregion. Total phosphorus, chlorophyll a and Secchi transparency help to characterize the trophic status of a lake. These measures indicate borderline mesotrophic - eutrophic conditions for Cedar Lake.