Cormorant Lake (Minnesota)
![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Big Cormorant Lake | |
---|---|
Big Cormorant Lake | |
Location | Becker County, Minnesota |
Group | Cormorant Lakes |
Coordinates | 46°44′30″N 96°06′14″W / 46.74167°N 96.10389°WCoordinates: 46°44′30″N 96°06′14″W / 46.74167°N 96.10389°W |
Type | Lake |
Primary outflows | Spring Creek |
Basin countries | United States of America |
Managing agency | Minnesota DNR |
Max. length | 3.5 mi (6 km) |
Max. width | 2.5 mi (4 km) |
Surface area | 3,657 acres (1,480 ha) |
Average depth | 30 feet (9.1 m) |
Max. depth | 75 ft (23 m) |
Salinity | Freshwater |
Shore length1 | 18.7 mi (30 km) |
Surface elevation | 1,158 ft (353 m) |
Frozen | 5 Months |
Islands | 1 |
Sections/sub-basins | Pikes Bay, Blue Water Bay, Glyndon Bay, Spring Creek Bay, Nelson Bay, Viking Bay |
Settlements | Cormorant Township |
Website | bigcormorantlake |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Big Cormorant Lake is located in northwestern Minnesota's Becker County, about an hour's drive due east of the Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota metropolitan area. Public access boat ramps are located on the northeast and west sides of the Lake.
The lake was named after the cormorant bird, a common bird in the region.[1] In 2015, the lake was discovered to be infested with zebra mussels, which threatens neighboring lakes. Cormorant Lake is situated near the towns of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Lake Park, Minnesota, Audubon, Minnesota and the Cormorant Township.
History
The land that Big Cormorant Lake sits on was originally occupied by the Chippewa (Ojibwe), and the Sioux Native tribes.[2] The Cormorant Township organized on February 26, 1872, and the name Cormorant is translated from the original Ojibway naming of the lake.[3] In 1867, a treaty was signed establishing the White Earth Reservation, a large tract of land in the northern part of Becker County, to be home for the Chippewa Indians.[2]
Attractions and activities
Some of the most popular attractions on Big Cormorant Lake come in the form of restaurants. Hooligan's Lakeside, Cormorant Pub and Boat House, Parallel 46/Cormorant Inn, Zorbaz on Pelican Lake, the Roadhouse, and Pit 611 offer lake residents food and entertainment. Boutique shopping is also available in Cormorant Village.
For over 100 years, YMCA Camp Cormorant has offered spirit, tradition, leadership and exceptional facilities to campers. Founded in 1903, Camp Cormorant is one of the oldest overnight camps in the entire nation and continues to be a tremendous growing up experience for children and teens. The camp is nestled on 80 acres of wooded property with an extensive beach front on Big Cormorant Lake.
Boating, sailing, and fishing are the most common activities on Cormorant Lake.
Other activities on Big Cormorant include swimming, kayaking, wakesurfing, waterskiing, wakeboarding and standup paddleboarding during the summer, and ice fishing and snowmobiling during the winter.
In media
Cormorant Village went viral for electing a dog named Duke for four terms as Mayor.[4] Duke was a Great Pyrenees and passed away Feb 21, 2019.[5][6]
A popular YouTube channel named CBOYSTV films and is headquartered at Cormorant Lake. CBoysTV is an American comedy and motorsports channel consisting of five guys. Their channel has amassed over 1 million subscribers. [7]
Wildlife
Fish to catch
Invasive species
- Eurasian Milfoil
- Spiny waterflea
- Starry Stonewort[10]
Climate
Because of its location in the Great Plains and its distance from both mountains and oceans, Cormorant Lake has an extreme humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa/Dfb), featuring long, bitterly cold winters and warm to hot, humid summers. Summers have frequent thunderstorms, and the warmest month of the year is July.[11]
Temperature and precipitation
Climate data for Detroit Lakes, Minnesota (8 Miles West of Cormorant Lake) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 55 (13) |
59 (15) |
74 (23) |
98 (37) |
97 (36) |
100 (38) |
107 (42) |
101 (38) |
98 (37) |
90 (32) |
72 (22) |
60 (16) |
107 (42) |
Average high °F (°C) | 19 (−7) |
26 (−3) |
37 (3) |
56 (13) |
69 (21) |
78 (26) |
82 (28) |
81 (27) |
71 (22) |
56 (13) |
38 (3) |
22 (−6) |
52.9 (11.6) |
Average low °F (°C) | −2 (−19) |
3 (−16) |
17 (−8) |
31 (−1) |
45 (7) |
55 (13) |
60 (16) |
58 (14) |
47 (8) |
35 (2) |
21 (−6) |
5 (−15) |
31.3 (−0.4) |
Record low °F (°C) | −45 (−43) |
−46 (−43) |
−40 (−40) |
−11 (−24) |
15 (−9) |
28 (−2) |
33 (1) |
32 (0) |
17 (−8) |
1 (−17) |
−28 (−33) |
−41 (−41) |
−46 (−43) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.76 (19) |
0.57 (14) |
1.15 (29) |
1.54 (39) |
2.97 (75) |
4.41 (112) |
4.03 (102) |
3.67 (93) |
3.02 (77) |
2.50 (64) |
1.10 (28) |
0.64 (16) |
26.36 (670) |
Source: usclimatedata.com[12] |
Ice In - Out
|
|
|
|
|
Neighboring lakes
- Leaf Lake (Becker County Minnesota)
- Pelican Lake (Otter Tail County, Minnesota)
- Little Cormorant Lake
- Middle Cormorant Lake
- Upper Cormorant Lake
- Lake Ida
- Lake Maud
- Lake Nelson
Adjacent townships
- Cormorant Township (south)
- Lake Park Township (north)
- Audubon Township (northeast)
- Lake Eunice Township (east)
- Dunn Township, Otter Tail County (southeast)
- Scambler Township, Otter Tail County (south)
- Tansem Township, Clay County (southwest)
- Parke Township, Clay County (west)
- Eglon Township, Clay County (northwest)
See also
References
- ^ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 218.
- ^ a b "Becker County History". www.co.becker.mn.us.
- ^ "Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society". 1920.
- ^ "Duke the dog, four time mayor of Cormorant Village has died".
- ^ "Duke, The Beloved Dog Mayor Of Minnesota Village, Passes Away". NPR.org.
- ^ Hanson, Hilary (February 23, 2019). "Duke, Beloved Dog Mayor Of Small Minnesota Town, Has Died". HuffPost.
- ^ "With throttles wide open, small-town 'CBoys' achieve YouTube stardom". Star Tribune.
- ^ "Fish Big Cormorant - Becker County, Minnesota".
- ^ "Zebra mussels in Becker County's Big Cormorant Lake". MPR News.
- ^ "2016 Becker County Aquatic Invasive Species Program Report" (PDF). www.co.becker.mn.us. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
- ^ Inc, Weather WX, Find Local. "Cormorant Lake MN Climate Averages, Monthly Weather Conditions". WeatherWX.com.
- ^ "Climate Detroit Lakes - Minnesota and Weather averages Detroit Lakes".
- ^ "Big Cormorant Lakes Association | Becker County Minnesaota".
- Articles with short description
- Articles needing additional references from April 2021
- All articles needing additional references
- Articles lacking reliable references from April 2021
- All articles lacking reliable references
- Articles with multiple maintenance issues
- Coordinates not on Wikidata
- Articles using infobox body of water without image
- Articles using infobox body of water without image bathymetry
- AC with 0 elements
- Lakes of Becker County, Minnesota
- Lakes of Minnesota