Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

• The most noticeable change to the lake edge marsh since 1938 appears to be a slight but clear
expansion of the marsh at the mouth of Piel Creek. The wetlands near the lake have received little
human disturbance and are largely intact. Today, very light and select logging occurs sporadically
throughout the private forests of the site. Largely inactive alfalfa fields or pasture borders the lowland
forest corridor of Piel Creek.
• Three large culverts that pass water from the north to the south basin of the lake breach the causeway
separating the north end of the lake from the south end. As water flows from north to south in
Kangaroo Lake, the impacts of cottage and home development on the south basin shoreline have been
confined to the waters south of the causeway.
• Like the other lakes of Door County which were bays of the post glacial lakes, Kangaroo Lake is a
shallow, marl bottom basin with high pH, and calcium bicarbonate rich water. The marl of the lake
sediments results from past and continuing calcium carbonate precipitation in the basin.
• The landscape relief through the site is generally low with the noted exception of the dolostone
plateau west of the lake, which rises to 110 feet above the lake surface. This plateau has a high
concentration of bedrock crevices and fracture traces as well as numerous areas of exposed bedrock.
Maps created for the Upper Door Watershed Project illustrate these features and are available at the
Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department. This dolostone plateau is the probable
catchment for the springs of lower Piel Creek and the north end of Kangaroo Lake.
• Small scale relief consists of interesting long low lake edge ridges and the slight surface irregularities
associated with a glacial till plain drained by a small low gradient stream. It is thought that the lake
edge ridges found at the north end of Kangaroo Lake are ice-shove ridges dating from the post-glacial
lake period.
• Piel Creek originates from a series of small springs located in a 40-acre basin about 2.5 miles above
Kangaroo Lake. The creek then flows southeast through a wooded corridor before entering Kangaroo
Lake. North of Piel Creek and west of Kangaroo Lake are upland hardwoods of sugar maple, red oak,
white birch and ash. The upland just west of the lake rises in a series of broad terraces to a plateau,
which offers a scenic vantage point of the lake.
• A lowland forest composed of white cedar and black ash is located just north of the lake and borders
Piel Creek north to its headwaters. The north basin of the lake is ringed by floating sedge mats,
having a maximum water depth of only 4.5 feet with a marly to rocky bottom.
• Rare plant and animal species that have been recorded utilizing this landscape include the showy lady
slipper orchid, Hine's emerald dragonfly, dorcas copper butterfly (Lycaena dorcas), and three species
of land snails. Bald Eagles, Osprey, and Caspian Terns often feed on the lake, and historically, Black
Terns have nested in the marshes of the lake. The marshes of the north end are also important
breeding and migration staging sites for diving and puddle ducks, and shorebirds.
Meridian Park
The core parcels in the site include the Lyle-Harter-Matter County Park, the Meridian County
Park, and Wayside Park. This area incorporates most of the land from Kangaroo Lake to Highway 57,
which runs parallel to the Lake Michigan shoreline. The site contains a diverse set of natural features
characteristic of Door County such as the ridge-swale complexes that border the Lake Michigan shoreline
and the sedge meadows found along the southern shore of Kangaroo Lake.
Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor 103