Rusk
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Yes
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Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
Clear Lake, in the Holcombe Flowage Watershed, is a 93.98 acre lake that falls in Rusk County. This lake is an outstanding/exceptional resource water under NR102 under the Fisheries Program. This lake is managed for fishing and swimming and is currently not considered impaired.
Date 2011
Author Aquatic Biologist
Historical Description
Source: 1971, Surface Water Resources of Rusk County Clear Lake, T33N, R9W, Section 36
A hard water, drainage lake in the Island Lake Chain in the Chippewa River watershed. It is connected by channels to Chain Lake and McCann Lake. It is a deep, clear water lake with a fish population of muskellunge, northern pike, walleyes, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegills, perch, black crappies, rock bass, pumpkinseed, warmouth, and bullheads. Rough fish include white suckers, redhorse, and longnose gar. Most of the lakeshore is upland hardwood, with small areas of brush swamp and bog. About 40 percent of the littoral bottom is muck. Waterfowl use is quite extensive with mallards, wood ducks, black ducks, and blue-winged teal known to nest here. Muskrat are also common. Private development consists of 21 cottages. A public access is located on the southwest corner of the lake. Public frontage amounts to 0.53 mile of shoreline owned by Rusk County.
Surface Acres = 94.7, Maximum Depth = 74 feet, M.P.A. = 88 ppm, Secchi disk = 13 feet
Date 1971
Author Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin
General Condition
Clear Lake (2350600) was assessed during the 2016 listing cycle; total phosphorus and chlorophyll sample data were clearly below 2016 WisCALM listing thresholds for the Recreation use and Fish and Aquatic Life use. This water is meeting these designated uses and is not considered impaired.
Date 2015
Author Ashley Beranek
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
Monitoring Projects
| WBIC | Official Waterbody Name | Station ID | Station Name | Earliest Fieldwork Date | Latest Fieldwork Date | View Station | View Data |
|---|
| 2350600 | Clear Lake | 10041190 | Clear Lake Landing - Island Chain Lake Chain | | | Map | Data |
| 2350600 | Clear Lake | 553071 | Clear Lake - Deep Hole | 7/23/1986 | 9/8/2023 | Map | Data |
| 2350600 | Clear Lake | 10018204 | Clear Lake -- Access at S End Lake Off 136th St | 7/15/2022 | 8/9/2023 | Map | Data |
| 2350600 | Clear Lake | 10005374 | Clear Lake | 8/29/2000 | 10/7/2024 | Map | Data |
|
Watershed Characteristics
Clear Lake is located in the Holcombe Flowage watershed which is 170.38 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (53.90%), wetland (23.30%) and a mix of open (9.10%) and other uses (13.70%). This watershed has 216.07 stream miles, 6,687.77 lake acres and 19,889.41 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Not Ranked 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.