Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

• Lowland plant species include cattail (Typha latifolia), bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis),
various sedges (Carex spp.), and rushes (Juncus spp.). Upland species include red oak (Quercus
borealis), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and butternut (Juglans cinerea). There has been recent
selective cutting in the upland forests.
• Spring spawning runs of longnose (Catostomus catostomus) and white suckers (Catostomus
commersoni) have been documented. Walleye (Stitzostedion vitreum) are also said to frequent this
stream (Corbisier 2000).
• Rare species include the Hooker’s orchis (Platanthera hookeri) and the Red-shouldered Hawk with
known nesting sites around the Redmon, and Heeden properties (Fish Creek lowland forest area).
Rare snails are found along the Niagara Escarpment near Hibbards Creek.
Thorp Pond
Thorp Pond is a small, nearly circular 6.4-acre lake with a maximum depth of 2.5 feet, located
west of Bailey's Harbor and northeast of Egg Harbor. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
classes the lake as a drainage lake, though there is no defined inlet or outlet. High quality upland and
lowland forests and wetlands border Thorp Pond. A sensitive boreal rich fen, and a diverse northern
sedge meadow are at the north end of the pond. Surrounding the pond and sedge meadow is a lowland
forest of tamarack and white cedar, and surrounding uplands are dominated by sugar maple, eastern
hemlock American beech, and birch. This upland forest forms a connection to the adjacent Fish Creek
watershed.
Thorp Pond is located in the Towns of Gibraltar and Egg Harbor. Gibraltar has adopted the
county zoning ordinances. Egg Harbor utilizes an independent planning commission with a sub-division
ordinance. The Egg Harbor Town Board enacted a moratorium on commercial development from
January 1998 to March 1999. Under the ‘master development plan’ wetlands, forests, the Niagara
Escarpment and open space will be protected. The Nature Conservancy is working with the town to
identify high quality natural resources in Egg Harbor.
• Soils under Thorp Pond are predominantly comprised of peat. Surrounding the pond is lowland
conifer forest. Ground composition is comprised of wet saturated muck soil in the spring that dries
out in the summer. The north side of the pond has an alkaline fen underlain by neutral peat of
unknown depth.
• Land use surrounding Thorp Pond include cleared cropland, stump pasture, and orchards.
• The pond is spring fed, shallow, and hard bottomed. An emergent aquatic community surrounds the
pond. In the western section is a seasonally flooded basin. The basin floods in the spring and is dry
by summer. The water flows from the east draining springs in the western part of the hardwood
swamp. There is no outlet from the pond.
• The basin’s primary water source is the lowland hardwood swamp located in the southwestern portion
of the site. The swamp also floods in the spring and dries by summer. An alkaline fen borders the
pond at the northern edge and extends into the lowland conifer forest.
• Two wetland basins are located east of Thorp Pond. It is not known whether there is a groundwater
connection between the pond and wetlands. The basins drain south across County Trunk EE toward
Hibbards Creek. In times of high water the wetlands serve as a portion of the headwaters of the creek
(Grimm 2001B).
Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor 99