Overview

Horseshoe Lake, in the Lower Namekagon River Watershed, is a 177.39 acre lake that falls in Washburn County. 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 Horseshoe Lake, T42N, R12,13W, Section 25, 30, 31, 36,

A soft water, seepage lake, it is landlocked and has a fish population of northern pike, largemouth bass, bluegills, perch, black crappies, rock bass, pumpkinseeds, bullheads, white suckers, bluntnose minnows, and a few walleyes. The panfish tend to be slow-growing. This horseshoe-shaped lake has a narrow constriction between two basins. The west basin is shallower with a depth of 19 feet. Water level fluctuations of about 3 feet occur during drier years, 1965 for instance. The channel was nearly dry at that time, but normally it has three feet of depth in it. About 70 percent of the shore slopes steeply to the lake. The littoral bottom type is hard materials of mostly sand, 92 percent, and the rest gravel. Emergent and submergent aquatic vegetation is quite common along shore with bulrushes and coontail respectively, but only a few areas have sparse water lilies as the only floating vegetation. There are no wetlands directly on the lakeshore. The upland vegetation is oak and jack pine mostly. Nesting ducks include a few mallards and wood ducks. Furbearer use is minor. There is a large amount of private lakeshore development with a private boys camp, two resorts and 41 cottages. There is a public access with limited parking off the east basin at its south end. This access and two undeveloped platted accesses comprise the only public frontage of 0.03 mile.

Surface Acres-194.2, Maximum Depth-21 feet, M.P.A.-23 ppm, Secchi Disk-20 feet

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

Monitoring Projects

Watershed Characteristics

Horseshoe Lake is located in the Lower Namekagon River watershed which is 239.34 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (73.10%), wetland (15.20%) and a mix of open (7.40%) and other uses (4.40%). This watershed has 172.53 stream miles, 12,590.30 lake acres and 21,781.64 wetland acres.

Nonpoint Source Characteristics

This watershed is ranked Not Ranked for runoff impacts on streams, Not Ranked 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.