Sentinel Lakes

The Sentinel Lakes are the focus of a long-term, collaborative monitoring effort that is being led by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The overall program, referred to as “SLICE — Sustaining Lakes in a Changing Environment,” is designed to understand and predict the consequences of land use and climate change on lake habitats.

This program will involve long-term monitoring of water chemistry, fisheries, habitat and other factors in these lakes as well as detailed assessment of watershed and related characteristics. The MPCA is a partner in this effort, with a primary focus on collection and assessment of water quality data for these lakes.

This Web page will provide a forum for sharing Sentinel Lake water quality-related reports. Direct questions related to this page to MPCA's Steven Heiskary: steven.heiskary@state.mn.us .

For further information on SLICE please visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ SLICE web page or contact Peter Jacobson, peter.jacobson@state.mn.us.

List of Sentinel Lakes — current as of April 2012

Further information on these lakes may be accessed from MDNR’s Lake Finder page.

1.NLF - Northern Lakes and Forests; CHF - North Central Hardwoods Forests;
WCBP - Western Corn Belt Plains; NGP - Northern Glaciated Plains