History of Little Rock Lake
Background and Introduction
In 1961, the Little Rock Lake Association was formed. The early association expressed interest in improving water quality as concern was noted about decreased fish populations. There are approximately 300 property owners on Little Rock Lake. In October, 2009 the Lake Association had 240 members.
The mission of the Little Rock Lake Association is:
“The intent of this Corporation is to protect, maintain and improve the ground and surface water resources within the Little Rock Lake watershed and adjacent Mississippi River area by encouraging appropriate water use and shore land management practices.”
Little Rock Lake was enhanced in 1911 when the Watab Pulp and Paper Company constructed a dam along the Mississippi River in Sartell, MN. By the end of the 1950's much development had occurred on the lake, mostly characterized as seasonal cabins.
The Little Rock Lake Association was a 2002 participant of the Healthy Lakes and Rivers Partnership program. The Initiative Foundation in Little Falls sponsors this program. The Healthy Lakes and Rivers Partnership program was developed to help fill the gap between what state agencies are able to accomplish with regard to water quality management, and what local citizens believe should be done to protect or improve the quality of their lakes and rivers. Through the program, citizen leaders are given the tools needed to assist them in developing and implementing their own lake or river management plans. The Little Rock Lake Association prepared a lake management plan outline through this program. Significant elements of the plan were related to water quality, land and water use and fisheries and aquatic vegetation.
Lake and Watershed Description
Little Rock Lake is located in Benton County. The north end of Little Rock Lake is approximately 1.5 miles east of Rice. Little Rock Lake derived its name as follows:
“The southern two-thirds of Watab Township has many outcrops of granite and syenite, continuing from their much quarried area in Sauk Rapids and East St. Cloud. At each side of the river road, in the vicinity of the Watab railway station, small hills and knobs of these rocks rise about 40 feet above the road and 75 to 90 feet above the river. One of these hills of rough, bald rock, called by Henry R. Schoolcraft the Peace Rock, rises directly from the river's edge about a half mile south from the mouth of Little Rock Creek, which, with its Little Rock Lake, was thence so named. It is a translation of the Ojibwe name, signifying, as more elaborately stated by Rev. Joseph A. Gilfillan, "where the little rocky hills project out every once in a while, here and there."
(Upham, 2001).
Little Rock Lake has a surface area of 1450 acres with 1392 acres or 96.0 percent of the lake being littoral. Littoral is defined as the area of the lake with a water depth of 15 feet or less. The maximum lake depth is 23 feet. The length of the shoreline is 15.7 miles with the greatest fetch being 2.2 miles with a north northeast orientation. There are three public accesses.
The number of parcels on the lake and the channel is 381 with the number of owners 307, according to Benton County 8-28-09.
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More information can be found in the LITTLE ROCK LAKE AQUATIC VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PLAN 2006 – 2011.pdf
Little Rock Creek Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Study (posted 6-29-08)
BCWS REPORT This is a .PDF file available for downloading. Its 1 MB in size. In conjunction with the Benton Water and Soil Conservation Office.
***NOTE -- You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view .pdf files provided on this site.
If you don't already have it, you can obtain a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader from This link.)
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