During the compilation of the Comprehensive Lake Management Plan for Deer Lake (1998-2000), the following scientific study of Deer Lake was conducted.  Here is a link to a news article that describes the project, in which Deer Lake was one of five pilot lakes.

News Report

The official report by Derek M. Erickson can be seen below. 

Click on the link below to see the entire document.

Sustainable Development for Minnesota Lakes

(1999)

by
Derek M. Erickson
Department of Resource Analysis, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) University of Minnesota

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Lake Associations, Geographic Information
Systems, Sustainable Lakes Project, Deer Lake

The entire study can be seen here:  Sustainable Development for DEER LAKE

The accompaning Maps of the Deer Lake Watershed can be seen here: MAPS

Partial Contents:

Abstract
Sustainable development is progress that maintains or enhances economic opportunity
and community well-being while protecting and restoring the natural environment upon
which people and economies depend. Sustainable development meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Sustainable development is gaining acceptance and being applied by localities and states
in the United States and throughout the world. The Legislative Commission on
Minnesota Resources (LCMR) funded the creation of a sustainable development plan for
Minnesota’s lakes. The Sustainable Development for Minnesota Lakes Project attempts
to answer the question of what should lakes and their watersheds look like in the next two
generations. The Sustainable Development project created an outline plan so that major
local and public developments can be planned and prioritized and can be reproduced for
other lakes and their surrounding watersheds.

Conclusions
The Deer Lake Lake Association
now needs to institute the plan and
proceed to update the data. A
documentation of the plan in action is
also needed to see how effective it can
be in sustaining the lake. A way to have
other Lake Associations follow Deer
Lake's example and institute their own
sustainable lake project must be found.
For the Sustainable Lakes Project, there
were many individuals and agencies that
contributed to create the final outcome.
All development is local, yet it
can have profound consequences for
Minnesota and the world at large. The
collective results of local choices can
affect the health of the local economy,
whether or not a community shares a
sense of place, and what sort of
environment will be passed to the next
generation.