Lake Assessment Program - Maple Lake, Wright County

Maple Lake is located near the city of Maple Lake in Wright County in a region of the state referred to as the North Central Hardwoods Forests (NCHF) ecoregion (Figure I). With a surface area of about 777 acres it is in the upper 5 percent of the lakes in the stale in terms of size. It is a relatively deep lake with a maximum depth of 76 feet and an average depth of about 18.7 feet (Table 1). Maple Lake has a rather small watershed of approximately 4.9 square miles. This results in a small watershed:Iake surface area of about 4:1 (Figure I). Lakes with small watersheds relative to their size are often highly dependent on precipitation directly on the surface of the lake and groundwater to maintain their lake levels, since surface inflow from the watershed is often minimal except for periods of high precipitation or runoff. Land use in the watershed is characterized by a mixture of cultivated, pasture, marsh, and urban uses as is typical of lakes in this ecoregion (Table I). However the percentage of urban (developed) land use is somewhat high and has likely replaced what once would have been considered forested land use.