Lake Assessment Program 1994 - Pelican Lake, Pope County, Minnesota

Pelican Lake lies within Minnewaska Township which is located in the north central portion of Pope County. Pelican Lake is located approximately one-half mile north and east of Lake Minnewaska and has a surface area of 539 acres and a mean depth of 8.7 feet. Pelican Lake is located within the Trapper's Run watershed which is 28.458 acres in size and comprises the largest single watershdd flowing into Lake ~innewaska.. As a whole, land use typks within the lake's watershed differ from the anticipated North Central Hardwood Forest (NCHF) ecoregion land use average ranges. Seventy-seven percent of the land within the Trapper's Run watershed is currently being used for agricultural purposes ( cultivation [47%] and pasture [30%]). Water and marsh lands compose the next largest land use category at 12 percent. Pelican Lake was sampled for water quality data during the summer of 1994 by MPCA staff along with representatives of the Pelican Lake Sportsman's Club. The work described in this study was undertaken upon a request from the Sportsman's Club and Pope County. Water quality data collected during 1994, for Pelican Lake, revealed the following summer-mean trophic status measurements: total phosphorus (TP) concentration of 41.5 ugiL, chlorophyll a of 23.9 ugiL and a Secchi disk transparency of 4.6 feet. The total phosphorus concentration was within the typical range for a set of minimally-impacted (reference) lakes in the North Central Hardwoods Forest ecoregion. The chlorophyll a concentration is slightly above the typical range for reference lakes in the North Central Hardwoods Forest ecoregion and subsequently water clarity is somewhat less than what is expected for a set of reference lakes within this ecoregion (4.9-10.5 feet). Total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, and transparency help to characterize the trophic status of a lake. These measures indicate eutrophic conditions for Pelican Lake. Eutrophic lakes are those lakes that can be described as having decreased tranparency, an anoxic hypolimnia (deeper waters of the lake) during the summer, macrophyte problems in evidence, and a use primarily as a warm water fisheries.