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