South Fork Kawishiwi River (S) Public Water Access Site

On Birch Lake

Birch Lake is a reservoir in northeastern Minnesota. It lies about eight miles southeast of Ely and one mile northeast of Babbitt. According to Lake County, it covers 7,063 acres, with a maximum depth of 25 feet, an average depth of 12.8 feet and about 90 miles of shoreline, roughly 75 percent of which is publicly owned. The lake's irregular shape comes from impounded river channels. The South Kawishiwi, Stony, Dunka and Birch rivers flow into it, and it belongs to the South Fork Kawishiwi River subwatershed of the Rainy River Headwaters Basin. Minnesota Power's dam on Highway 1 at the outlet controls the water level. The reservoir stores water that supplements winter flows for the company's Winton hydroelectric station on the Kawishiwi River. The dam was the last major wooden structure in the utility's hydro system and was rebuilt in concrete, with the work finished in October 2014. Lake County lists a water-level fluctuation of 5.7 feet. More about Birch Lake.

Community

Where people who use Birch Lake talk about it.

• White Iron Chain of Lakes Association (WICOLA) Association
• White Iron Chain of Lakes Association - Wicola Facebook
• Minnesota Power Water Table (Birch Lake Reservoir elevation and operating band chart) Link
• Birch Lake Fishing Reports - FishingMinnesota forum Forum
• Search Reddit: r/minnesota Reddit
• Search all of Reddit for Birch Lake, Minnesota Reddit

Nearby launches

• Birch Lake, Hwy 1 Public Water Access Site · 0.2 mi · Birch Lake
• S. Kawishiwi River Carry Down · 3.7 mi · Filson Creek
• South Fork Kawishiwi River (N) Public Water Access Site · 3.7 mi · South Kawishiwi River
• Nickel Lake Carry Down · 4.7 mi · Nickel Lake
• Harris Lake Public Water Access Site · 4.8 mi · Harris Lake
• Birch Lake (NE) Public Water Access Site · 4.8 mi · Birch Lake