Saunders Lake is located in the United States state of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. It is a lake that is west-southwest of Minneapolis–St. Paul in the Minneapolis

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

and

Minnetrista Minnetrista Museum & Gardens was founded in 1988. Built on the legacy of the Ball brothers, Ball family and Ball Corporation, company, Minnetrista is a museum and garden site located on the White River in Muncie, Indiana. The organization pre ...

. The first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

s came to the area near Saunders Lake in the 1850s. In 1854, Nathaniel Sanders and J. F. Buck settled on its shores. Saunders Lake was named for Nathaniel Sander

The lake is a large, Type 5 wetland, classified as a Natural Environment lak

The lake outlets through a small Channel (geography), channel to

Lake Langdon Lake Langdon in Mound, Minnesota, has an area of . Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) charts show its maximum depth of , though it would be classified as a shallow lake with a mean depth of . It is named for R. V. Langdon, the first towns ...

, which discharges through a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

under County State-Aid Highway 110 into Lost Lake, which outlets into Cooks Bay of

Lake Minnetonka Lake Minnetonka (Dakota language, Dakota: ''Mní iá Tháŋka'') is a lake located about west-southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka has about 23 named bays and areas. The lake lies within Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin and ...

. It is part of the

Langdon Lake Langdon Lake is reservoir located in the Umatilla National Forest of Northeastern Oregon, United States. It is an impoundment of Morning Creek, and the source of Lookingglass Creek, a tributary of the Grande Ronde River. Surrounding th ...

subwatershed of the

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District is a watershed district in Minnesota with a mission to collaborate with public and private partners to protect and improve land and water for current and future generations. The Minnehaha Creek in its name ...

(MCWD). The corridor between Black (also called Flanagan) and Saunders Lakes consists of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

and has been identified by the

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, rec ...

as a regionally significant area with outstanding

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

value. Most of this area has been incorporated into Gale Woods Regional Park by the

Three Rivers Park District Three Rivers Park District is a special park district serving the suburban areas of the Twin Cities including suburban Hennepin, Carver, Dakota, Scott, and Ramsey counties. Three Rivers's mission is "To promote environmental stewardship throug ...

. Saunders Lake scores highly on vegetative

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

, and is

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in the Preserve category. Boating Regulations: Saunders Lake does not have any boating or motor regulations. Here is the DNR list o
Metro lakes with boating regulations

Wildlife

The lake is considered by many to be a great

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxi ...

fishing lake, and catfish and sunfish are also present. Beavers are present as evidenced by the downed trees on its north shore.

Gallery

File:Saunders Lake Mound MN 01.jpg, Looking towards the island on Saunders Lake File:Saunders Lake Mound MN 02.jpg, Fall day on Saunders Lake File:Saunders Lake Mound MN 03.jpg, The island on Saunders Lake File:Saunders Lake Mound MN 04.jpg, A deer on the shore of Saunders Lake File: Saunders-Lake-Sunset.jpg , Sunset photo taken from the water

Water Quality

has graded Saunders Lake a B− for

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

on a scale of A–F. Lakes with a B grade are defined as, “Generally good water quality but algae may limit swimming, particularly toward the end of the summer.”

References

External links

Saunders Lake AssociationMCWD subwatershed info
{{authority control Lakes of Hennepin County, Minnesota Lakes of Minnesota

Wildlife

Gallery

Water Quality

See also

References

External links