Cloquet River Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Report

Document
Description
Assessment results for the Cloquet River Watershed indicate that the fish and macroinvertebrate communities are for the most part in very good to excellent condition. This is undoubtedly linked to the fact that the Cloquet River Watershed is dominated by forests, wetlands, and lakes with limited impact compared to other watersheds in the state. Therefore, very little to no anthropogenic (human induced) stressors are present. A total of 28 lakes within the watershed had sufficient data collected to assess for aquatic recreation. Twenty-seven lakes were assessed as fully supporting recreational use; meeting the phosphorus and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) water quality standards in the Northern Lakes and Forests Ecoregion. Sand (Loaine) Lake did not meet standards protective of its stream trout fishery; however an MPCA review of the data and lake's environmental setting determined these exceedances were due to natural conditions. The lakeshore is undeveloped and the watershed is dominated by forest. The Cloquet River reservoir lakes vary in quality; Island Lake had the lowest concentrations of phosphorus (P) and Chl-a. Most of the reservoir lakes have naturally low Secchi transparency due from tannin staining (i.e. root beer color). Fish, Boulder, and Wild Rice lakes are productive and classified as mesotrophic; their water quality is influenced by the riverine, wetland, and forest landscapes that were inundated when the reservoirs were created in the early 1900's.
Date Issued
2018-06
Number of Pages
130
Decade
Publisher
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Publication Series
County
Rights Holder
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Rights Management
Public Domain