Lake Earl is a body of water in Del Norte County, California, in the United States, partly within Tolowa Dunes State Park and partly within Lake Earl Wildlife Area. Entirely misnamed, Lake Earl generally refers to a large lagoon with two principle lobes separated by "the Narrows." The smaller lobe, which is also closer to the ocean and the breach, is called Lake Tolowa by the California Department of Fish and Game, or Lake Talawa[1] in some documents. The larger lobe of the lagoon is Lake Earl. As opposed to an estuary, which is typically open to the ocean and fresh water constantly, a lagoon seals up seasonally and fills with a predominance of fresh water. The lagoon, located on the coast of California about 11 miles south of the border with Oregon[2], is manually breached when the water levels rise to 8-10 feet mean sea level (MSL).[3] If allowed to breach normally, the water surface would rise to 12-14 feet[4]. At 10 feet MSL there is approximately 4,900 acres (20 km2) of water surface in the lagoons and 4,950 acres (20.0 km2) of wetlands; at 8 feet MSL, the surface waters area is approximately 4,200 acres (17 km2). At two feet MSL, the combined surface area is a mere 2,191 acres (8.87 km2) of open water (TetraTec, 2000) surrounded by 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of rotting vegetation and mud.