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Duck Lake is located on the southern border of Hubbard County. The southern portion of the lake is in Wadena County. The lake has a surface area of 326 acres, of which 151 acres (46 percent) is in the littoral zone, meaning that it has a depth of 15 feet or less. Duck Lake’s average water clarity is 5.5 feet, and the maximum depth is 23 feet. There is a state-owned public access located on the southwest shore of the lake. Duck Lake has good water quality and lots of sand shoreline. Duck Lake provides good angling opportunities for walleye, largemouth bass, and panfish. For the MN DNR's latest Duck Lake status and Fisheries report click HERE.
Duck Lake Management Plan
The information above is from the DNR and is included in the Duck Lake Management Plan. All Duck Lake residents and neighbors were invited to a visioning session that was held on June 12, 2010. There, a small but productive group collaborated to determine focus areas and action plans for Duck Lake. The priority focus areas are Water Quality and Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS).
The water quality group decided to meet with the MN Dept. of Agriculture and local farmers about the run-off from farm fields and the possible impact on our lake. They also decided to meet with Hubbard County Environmental Services and private contractors to try and get a lower group rate for residents who want their septic systems inspected.
The AIS focus group decided that to help keep Duck Lake free of aquatic invasive species we need better signage at the public access and education for all on identification and prevention of AIS in Duck Lake. The possible need for AIS inspectors at the access in the future was also discussed.
The Duck Lake Management Plan was written following the visioning session and approved. We received $2400 from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation for our efforts, with $500 of that being used to pay our visioning session facilitator.
Duck Lake Management Plan Progress
The water quality group contacted Hubbard County Ag Services and Hubbard Co SWCD. Those organizations left it up to us to talk with local farmers about the impact farming has on our lake. We then spoke to local farmers and asked them to stop piling their fertilizer next to the lake. They have agreed to pile it on the farthest corners away from the lake and this should lessen the impact of airborne phosphorus into our lake. Both counties have completed state-mandated checks of the septic systems around our lake. However, we found out that septic systems are not checked for failure unless properties are sold. We have continued our water monitoring program through HCCOLA and RMB labs.
A mailing with AIS prevention information was sent out with newsletters in 2011 and 2012 and may be ongoing in the future as needed. Following requests from a member of our AIS focus group, the DNR constructed a large AIS sign at the public access.
In 2013 Duck Lake teamed up with Hubbard County SWCD to provide 28 hours of AIS watercraft inspectors on our public access during active days. The inspectors are there to educate boaters as well as check for AIS. 4 boats that entered Duck Lake came from infested waters but fortunately did not have any AIS attached. A summary of the Duck Lake inspector Reports can be found at the link on the sidebar to the left of this article. We used $420 of our lake management funds for the water inspectors. The remaining funds will enable us to pay for the expenses of future projects on Duck Lake. The entire Duck Lake Management plan can be found HERE.
Duck Lake Management Plan funds continued paying for AIS watercraft inspectors in 2014, 2015 and 2016. With additional state funding of 24 hours for Duck Lake in 2016, we increased our inspection hours to a total of 56. The Lake Management Plan funds were depleted in 2016. In 2018 the DLA initiated a fundraiser selling Duck Lake shirts to contribute to additional inspector hours at our access.
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