The Perfect Environment for Wild Super Blue Green® Algae

Upper Klamath Lake is one of nature's most miraculous nutrition resources. The wealth of nutrients in this lake creates the perfect environment for Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (Aph. flos-aquae) or Super Blue Green, our signature product, to grow with such abundance in the wild.

The lake is fed by a mix of pure streams and creeks, natural springs, and two major snow-fed rivers, the Wood River and the Williamson River. The Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge sits along the north edge of the lake. With mountainous terrain to the west and north, and the town of Klamath Falls lying downstream to the south, the lake is naturally isolated and protected. Seventy percent of the total watershed of the area that includes Upper Klamath Lake is under federal ownership.

A Nutrient-Rich Treasure Trove

The surrounding volcanic geology pours a rich legacy of minerals into the lake each year. The result? In an age of rapidly acidifying lakes and streams, this protected environment not only shelters the lake, but it also supports a consistently alkaline pH.

Where do these minerals come from?

For over 10,000 years, since the last retreat of West Coast glaciers, the lake has served as a "nutrient trap" for the plentiful supply of minerals, volcanic silt, organic matter, and other nutrients washed in from 3,800 square miles of land surface, much of it mountainous. In this environment of abundant minerals, natural nutrients, fresh water, and sunlight, Aph. flos-aquae has had the opportunity to flourish to its full potential for over a hundred centuries.

And flourish it does!

Each year the lake's 594,000 acre-feet of water (650 billion gallons) produce in excess of 200 million pounds of its unique strain of Aph. flos-aquae. Much of the algae produced by Upper Klamath Lake each year remains within the lake system. Over the millennia, this has gradually built up a thick blanket of nutrient-rich sediment on the lake's floor. This annual deposit has resulted in a layer of rich sediment (loaded with nutrients to support many future years of algae blooms) that in some spots reaches 35 feet in depth.

The nurturing environment of Upper Klamath Lake

. . .is the ideal home for this algae that known for its nutritional benefits. Considering the protected environment, the bounty of minerals and other nutrients, and the pure water of Upper Klamath Lake, as well as the 300 days of sunshine that grace the Klamath basin each year, it's no wonder that Aph. flos-aquae flourishes here in such abundance.

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UPPER KLAMATH LAKE
• about 30 miles long
• up to 8 miles wide
• average 8 feet deep (isolated spots to 50 feet)
• 133 square miles
• elongated and irregular
• 650 billion gallons water
• fed by springs, creeks and two major snow-fed rivers
• rich in minerals, volcanic silt, organic matter