Minnesota is ofter referred to as "The Land of 10,000 Lakes". Impressive, huh?

Some years ago, a friend of mine from the Bronx challenged that (off the top of his head), saying something to the effect, "They must be counting little frog puddles as lakes."

Actually, it's not really 10,000 lakes. It's more like 11,000.

But how small can a body of water be and still qualify as a lake? The answer (at least for official Minnesota purposes, counting the 11,000) is, it has to be at least twenty acres.

Anything under twenty acres is a tarn.

Dave Oesterreich