Pelican Lake Clarity

By Moriya Rufer, PGOLID Lake Coordinator

The Pelican Lake clarity is usually best in the middle of the lake, just north of Fish Lake.  The east bay of the lake, Fairhills Bay, usually has lower clarity because the Pelican River enters the lake on that end.  The Pelican River contributes 75% of the nutrient loading to Pelican Lake.

The west end of the lake typically has the same or better clarity than the east end.  The west end of the lake has two small inlets, Spring Creek and Bob Creek, which contribute nutrients, but not at the levels of the Pelican River.

As of June, the 2012 clarity in Pelican Lake has been at record levels (see orange circles on the three graphs below).  This early season record clarity is most likely due to the lack of a significant snow melt and a dry spring rather than zebra mussels.  Other lakes in the area also experienced record clarity in spring of 2012, and they don’t have zebra mussels.  In addition, zebra mussels aren’t active in April and early May when the record clarity occurred.

In 2012, the middle of the lake reached a clarity of 35 feet, while the west end reached 30 feet and the east end reached 28 feet.