Sawyer, Washburn
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Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
County Line Lake (Line), in the Red Cedar Lake Watershed, is a 59.19 acre lake that falls in Sawyer and Washburn Counties. This lake is managed for fishing and swimming and is currently not considered impaired.
Date 2011
Author Aquatic Biologist
Historical Description
Source: 1978, Surface Water Resources of Washburn County County Line Lake, T38N, R9, 1OW, Section 25, 30, Surface Acres-62.9, Maximum Depth-72 feet, M.P.A.-9 ppm, Secchi Disk-19 feet.
A soft water, seepage lake, it is landlocked and has quite an irregular shape with at least five distinct basins of varying depths. Much of the lakeshore is steep and littoral zone bottom materials are hard, unsorted sand and gravel materials. The fishery is made up of largemouth bass, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and green sunfish. Fluctuating water levels of three to four feet of depth occur, but only in extremely dry years. The only wetlands on the lake are two small islands of sedge in the south bay and a small sedge meadow off this bay. Upland hardwoods and a few pine surround the entire lake. A 0.4-acre wooded island is located at the entrance channel of the west bay. Only seven percent of the surface area is under three feet in depth. Nesting ducks include black ducks, mallards, wood ducks, and teal. A number of other ducks, coots, and occasionally Canada geese use the lake during spring and fall migrations. Furbearer use is only occasional. The lakeshore in Washburn County is County Forest land, 1.18 miles, but is privately owned in Sawyer County. There is no private development. An unimproved access trail is located near the south end and has a rather steep grade near the lake.
Date 1978
Author Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin
Condition
Wisconsin has over 84,000 miles of streams, 15,000 lakes and milllions of acres of wetlands. Assessing the condition of this vast amount of water is challenging. The state's water monitoring program uses a media-based, cross-program approach to analyze water condition. An updated monitoring strategy (2015-2020) is now available. Compliance with Clean Water Act fishable, swimmable standards are located in the Executive Summary of Water Condition in 2018. See also the 'monitoring and projects' tab.
Reports
Management Goals
Wisconsin's Water Quality Standards provide qualitative and quantitative goals for waters that are protective of Fishable, Swimmable conditions [Learn more]. Waters that do not meet water quality standards are considered impaired and restoration actions are planned and carried out until the water is once again fishable and swimmable
Management goals can include creation or implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, a Nine Key Element Plan, or other restoration work, education and outreach and more. If specific recommendations exist for this water, they will be displayed below online.
Monitoring
Monitoring the condition of a river, stream, or lake includes gathering physical, chemical, biological, and habitat data. Comprehensive studies often gather all these parameters in great detail, while lighter assessment events will involve sampling physical, chemical and biological data such as macroinvertebrates. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities integrate watershed or catchment condition, providing great insight into overall ecosystem health. Chemical and habitat parameters tell researchers more about human induced problems including contaminated runoff, point source dischargers, or habitat issues that foster or limit the potential of aquatic communities to thrive in a given area. Wisconsin's Water Monitoring Strategy was recenty updated.
Grants and Management Projects
| Project Name (Click for Details) | Year Started |
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Monitoring Projects
| WBIC | Official Waterbody Name | Station ID | Station Name | Earliest Fieldwork Date | Latest Fieldwork Date | View Station | View Data |
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| 1842000 | County Line Lake | 10028987 | County Line Lake | 9/16/2004 | 10/3/2016 | Map | Data |
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Watershed Characteristics
County Line Lake is located in the Red Cedar Lake watershed which is 140.01 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (74%), wetland (11.20%) and a mix of open (7.40%) and other uses (7.40%). This watershed has 167.65 stream miles, 6,893.24 lake acres and 7,428.58 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Low for runoff impacts on streams, Medium for runoff impacts on lakes and Low for runoff impacts on groundwater and therefore has an overall rank of Low. This value can be used in ranking the watershed or individual waterbodies for grant funding under state and county programs.However, all waters are affected by diffuse pollutant sources regardless of initial water quality. Applications for specific runoff projects under state or county grant programs may be pursued. For more information, go to surface water program grants.