Lake Management

The Skagit County Lake Management Program provides technical and administrative help to lake communities who want help controlling aquatic noxious weeds that impair lake recreation, water quality, habitat, and scenery.

Lake communities can form Lake Management Districts (LMDs), voluntary self-taxing districts to pay for aquatic plant management (RCW 36.61). The most common problematic aquatic plants in Skagit County include Eurasian watermilfoil, Brazilian elodea, fragrant waterlily, and yellow flag iris.

Some LMDs also manage for algae blooms. Nutrients, primarily phosphorus, are the key ingredients that can trigger excessive algae growth or algal blooms. Algae that can sometimes produce harmful toxins or deplete oxygen and cause fish kills. If you are unsure whether or not an algal bloom is toxic, a good rule of thumb is just to avoid contact with the water during a bloom.

For information regarding recreational water safety and algae blooms, or to report an algae bloom, please visit our Skagit County Environmental Health Recreational Water Safety webpage or check out the Washington State Toxic Algae webpage.

The following lake groups have established LMDs in Skagit County:

• Big Lake (LMD #1)
• Lake McMurray (LMD #2)
• Lakes Erie & Campbell (LMD #3)
• Clear Lake & Beaver Lake (LMD#4)

Big Lake provides important wildlife habitat and offers many recreational opportunities including swimming, fishing, boating, and shoreline-related activities. The lake has a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife boat ramp and is heavily used by both lake residents and the public for recreation. Beneficial uses of the lake have been severely impacted from dense, prolific growth of invasive aquatic plants, including Brazilian elodea (Egeria densa), Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum), and fragrant water lily (Nymphaea odorata).

To combat noxious aquatic weeds, the lakeside residents at Big Lake began a program of mechanical harvesting to remove the plants in the early 1990's; however, this endeavor was unsuccessful due to the rapid growth rate of the plants. In 1997, the lake community voted to form a Lake Management District (LMD) for a 5-year period; upon expiration, the LMD was reformed for another 10-year period.

The stated goals of the LMD, in accordance with the Integrated Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan, are to:

• Aggressively remove noxious weeds such as Brazilian elodea, Eurasian watermilfoil (if found), fragrant water lily, and yellow flag iris from the lake.
• Promote better watershed management.
• Reduce algae blooms.
• Eliminate the need to mechanically harvest weeds.
• Swim, water ski, and boat without touching the weeds.

Lake McMurray is 160-acres with a maximum depth of 52-feet, making it the biggest lake in the Nookachamps Creek Watershed. It is one of the most popular lakes for recreational fishing in the region, and is considered to have good water quality.

Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) was discovered at Lake McMurray in the mid 1990's, which prompted lakeside residents to partner with Skagit County Public Works to draft an Integrated Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan (to be hyperlinked once the document is scanned and made into a PDF). This plan identifies control alternatives to eradicate milfoil. Since the formation of a Lake Management District (LMD) at Lake McMurray, the community has implemented the plan and succeeded in removing Eurasian watermilfoil from the lake. Continuing a monitoring and education will help ensure early detection and prevention of invasive species reintroduction.

Stay informed about aquatic plants and activities at Lake McMurray by keeping in touch with members of the Advisory Committee and the Skagit County Water Resources Technician, as well as reading the annual reports provided below.

Lakes Erie & Campbell are located on Fidalgo Island, approximately 3 miles south of Anacortes. Lake Erie is the smaller of the two lakes, totaling 113 acres with a mean depth of 6 ft and maximum depth of 12 feet. Lake Erie drains into Lake Campbell via a half-mile stream. Lake Campbell totals 367 acres in area with a mean depth of 8 ft and a maximum depth of 16 feet. Lake Campbell drains into Similk Bay through an intermittent stream. Both Lakes Erie and Campbell are shallow eutrophic (nutrient rich) lakes and are conducive to excessive aquatic plant growth and algal blooms. The issues impacting the lakes are complicated. There is no easy solution, making them a challenge to manage.  Treating one issue tends to make the other issue worse. 

In 2001, the majority of Lake Erie and Campbell waterfront property owners voted to establish Lake Management District No. 3 (LMD 3) and charge themselves annual special assessments for the management of aquatic weed growth in both lakes. LMD3 was recently re-established in 2020 for another 10-year duration. The primary goal of the District is to eradicate or control invasive aquatic plants like Eurasian watermilfoil using the methods identified in the Integrated Aquatic Plant Management Plan (IAPMP) for Lakes Erie/Campbell. The native aquatic plant population has also become problematic around docks and swimming areas at Lake Erie which occasionally warrants seasonal control. 

Algae management is not currently financed under the LMD3 program due to the high costs associated with it and because algal blooms are typically short-lived.

Clear & Beaver Lakes are located in the lower East Fork Nookachamps Watershed, approximately 6 miles east of Mount Vernon near the Town of Clear Lake. Both are small, shallow lakes of glacial origin.  The outlet located along the southern shoreline of Clear Lake empties into Fox Creek which provides a connection to Beaver Lake and likely serves as a conduit that facilitates the spread of invasive plants between the lakes during rain and flood events.

Clear Lake is approximately 200 acres with a mean depth of 23 feet and a maximum depth of 44 feet.  Beaver Lake is approximately 75 acres in surface area, 5 foot mean and 10 foot maximum depth.  Eurasian watermilfoil was first discovered in Clear Lake in 1994 and in Beaver Lake in 1999. Brazilian elodea was discovered in Beaver Lake in 2005. The waterfront community received a grant to help develop and implement the Integrated Aquatic Plant Management Plan.  Lakeside residents voted to create the Lake Management District for Clear and Beaver Lakes (LMD 4) in 2007 for a period of ten years.  

The overall management goal is to eradicate Eurasian milfoil from Clear & Beaver Lakes and Brazilian elodea from Beaver Lake, prevent the spread of the noxious weeds to downstream water bodies during flood events, and control fragrant waterlilies to facilitate increased access to the lake for recreational users.  Since the formation of the District, Brazilian elodea has been successfully eradicated from Beaver Lake and Eurasian watermilfoil was eradicated for a period of two years. Now there are only a few Eurasian watermilfoil plants in both lakes.  Great progress has also been made in controlling fragrant waterlilies around the public boat launch, docks, and swimming areas.