Lake Seven Watershed Exceptional Resource Protection

Lake Seven is located in Otter Tail County and is a waterbody of statewide significance, often leading the north central hardwoods forest ecoregion in water clarity. Lake Seven has also been identified by DNR Fisheries staff as one of 77 refuge lakes with the potential to maintain tulibee populations into the future given sufficent watershed protection and the only one in Otter Tail County.
Through a lake management planning process Lake Six and Seven residents identified 15 locations where homeowners voluntarily wanted to reduce their impact on the lakes. The installation of these community identified water quality projects will reduce the volume of stormwater runoff entering the lakes from shoreland properties. Project installations will be supported by peer-to-peer citizen engagement efforts to foster further proactive lake protection planning and implementation activities. These activities leverage current water quality protection efforts and lead to the identification of other landowners willing to implement runoff and erosion reducing practices.
High resolution electronic data provides the opportunity to identify areas contributing the highest proportion of stormwater runoff into the lake and evaluate the positioning of the proposed practices. All proposed projects are within the directly contributing areas of the watershed and directly influencing the lake's water quality.