Overview

Grindstone Lake, in the Couderay River Watershed, is a 3,176.33 acre lake that falls in Sawyer 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: 1969, Surface Water Resources of Sawyer County Grindstone Lake, T40N, R8, 9W, Section = several

A hard water drainage lake with a relatively small outlet flow of an estimated 6.0 cfs. normal flow to nearby Lac Court Oreilles. Common game fish include muskellunge, walleyes, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and largemouth bass. Cisco are also present. The most common panfish are the perch, bluegill, and rock bass, while black crappie, pumpkinseed, and bullheads inhabit the lake also. Other fish species include longnose gar, white suckers, common shiners, creek chubs, hognose sucker, mudminnows, and fathead minnows. The only stream to the lake, Grindstone Creek, is a brook trout stream. A number of nesting ducks are found here and includes mallards, black ducks, blue-winged teal, hooded mergansers, and coot. Additional numbers of migratory waterfowl that includes Canada Geese are found here seasonally. Most of the shore vegetation is upland hardwood and pine, except for a spruce bog at the lake outlet and small areas of tamarack-spruce bog on the west end of the lake. With an exception of about two percent of the shore, the bottom type is a mixture of sand, gravel, and boulder. The aesthetic and recreational qualities are so appealing that extensive development of the shore has occurred. There are 16 resorts, three boat rentals, and 113 cottages and dwellings, along with a private camp and a commercial cranberry marsh. A public access is located one-quarter mile west of the outlet. Of the 10.5 miles of shoreline, 0.66 miles are in public ownership. This latter figure includes the shoreline of two Department of Natural Resources owned islands and the 14 platted access sites.

Surface Acres = 3,110.9, Maximum Depth = 59 feet, M.P.A. = 52 ppm, Secchi Disk = 12 feet

Date  1969

Author   Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin

General Condition

Grindstone Lake (2391200) 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

Watershed Characteristics

Grindstone Lake is located in the Couderay River watershed which is 212.25 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (64.90%), wetland (13.50%) and a mix of open (12.90%) and other uses (8.70%). This watershed has 211.96 stream miles, 18,300.76 lake acres and 14,697.69 wetland acres.

Nonpoint Source Characteristics

This watershed is ranked Low for runoff impacts on streams, High 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.This water is ranked High Lake for individual Lakes based on runoff problems and the likelihood of success from project implementation.