The project area includes Deer Lake and it surrounding watersheds. Deer Lake is an 812-acre lake in Polk County. Its watersheds, primarily on the north side of the lake, total almost 5800 acres. The Deer Lake Conservancy worked for several years to aggressively implement recommendations from planning grant studies sponsored by the Deer Lake Association in the early 1990s. A timeline for the projects is shown below. This planning grant project assessed their effectiveness, and made recommendations for future work.

The Deer Lake Conservancy, Inc. will conduct a comprehensive study of Deer Lake in Polk County. Project activities would include; water quality monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of installed watershed practices, an updated analysis of watershed nutrient loading, modeling of watershed loading and lake response, surveying of lakeshore riparian habitat, analysis and evaluation of all study results and the development of management recommendations, development of an implementation strategy, and the development of an updated lake management plan.

To evaluate the effectiveness of installed watershed practices