Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

• The stream is annually stocked with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Rainbows and suckers
(Catostomus commersoni) make spring runs upstream as do Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus
tshawytscha) in the fall when water levels and water flow permit (Corbisier 2000).
• State special concern plant species supported by the creek are slender bog arrow grass (Triglochin
palustris) and marsh horsetail (Equisetum palustre).
North Kangaroo Lake
The Piel Creek-Kangaroo Lake system lies in a shallow trough of the Niagara Escarpment
extending from Fish Creek to the north and west, down through the minor valley of Piel Creek through
Kangaroo Lake to Lake Michigan. Like similar low areas adjacent to Lake Michigan, this trough was
submerged intermittently by higher waters of post-glacial lakes (Lake Algonquin 8,000 BP; and Lake
Nipissing 4,000 BP; note BP is abbreviation for “before present”).
Embayment of Kangaroo Lake by sand deposition and dune formation followed the receding lake
levels and regional post-glacial land rebound. Today, a small stream, Hine's Creek, flowing from the
southeast corner of Kangaroo Lake, links Kangaroo Lake to Lake Michigan.
• North Kangaroo Lake is in the Towns of Gibraltar, Baileys Harbor, and Egg Harbor. Both Gibraltar
and Baileys Harbor have adopted the county’s zoning ordinance. Egg Harbor utilizes an independent
planning commission with a subdivision ordinance.
• The shoreline of Kangaroo Lake south of the causeway has become highly developed with cottages,
homes, resorts and condominiums. Except for one small cluster of cottages at the causeway, the north
portion has escaped all shoreline development.
• The forests and marshes of this site are bordered by abandoned or, less commonly, active agricultural
lands, and rural single family homes. The typical abandoned field setting consists of low herbaceous
vegetation mixed with patches of juniper (Juniper communis), raspberries (Rubus sp.), and bracken
fern. Depending on the time since abandonment, historic use, and soils; saplings and small pole sized
trees of black cherry, choke cherry (Prunus viginiana), green ash, apple (Malus spp.), and sumac
Rhus typhina) may be found invading these fields, often emerging through the shrubby patches of
raspberry and juniper.
• Low herbaceous stands of short grasses, ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), hawkweed
(Hieracium spp.), knapweed (Centaurea maculosa), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), and St.
John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum) characterize other abandoned hayfields or old orchards. These
early succession species appear to persist until a full tree canopy has closed over the site. Due to the
increasing difficulty of farming in Door County, abandonment of agricultural land can be expected to
continue with conversion to single family dwellings the usual outcome.
• Based on an examination of historic aerial photos (1938; black and white, 1:15,840 scale) of the site,
several observations can be made. Prior to 1938, much of the presently forested land had been logged
to varying degrees of intensity, though complete canopy removal did not occur. Only sparse residual
mature trees represented the upland hardwood/conifer forest north of the lowland forest at the north
end of the lake in 1938. Today this forest is composed of a mix of even-aged big tooth aspen and
dense white cedar/balsam fir sapling stands. The majority of the upland forest block west of the lake
appeared intact in 1938, however, recent logging was evident just west of the mouth of Piel Creek.
For the most part the forest acreage north of Kangaroo Lake has increased since 1938 by infilling of
small interior patches and by expansion out from the forest edge.
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Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor