Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

The high quality wetlands that compose the central element of the area contain a variety of rare or
endangered species. This includes ten rare plants. Two are listed as federally threatened, the dwarf lake
iris and dune thistle. The latter is also listed as a state threatened plant, as is western fescue. Fifteen bird
species not commonly found elsewhere in the state nest in the Mink River / Rowley’s Bay complex.
Most notably are the Yellow Rail and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). The
endangered Caspian Tern also uses the area as foraging habitat. During fall migration waterfowl are
attracted to the area for forage on a variety of seed producing plants. Finally, two or more rare
invertebrates including the federally endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly thrive in the sedge meadows.
The estuary, where the waters of the river and the lake meet, is the focal point of much of the high
quality natural habitat and is an important spawning habitat for fish, particularly northern pike and
smallmouth bass. The variety of community types found in this relatively small landscape almost
comprises a representative sample of those natural communities found on the Door Peninsula. Newport
State Park and the Newport Conifer-Hardwoods State Natural Area as contiguous landscapes enhance the
ecological significance of the site.
NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES:
The area witnessed significant lumber shipments in 1870, when 1,500 cords of wood, 6,000
railroad ties, 8,000 telegraph poles and 60,000 cedar posts were shipped from Rowley’s Bay. The
following year shipments included 16,000 telegraph poles, 60,000 cedar posts, 6,000 ties and 15,000
cords of wood (Peterson 1991).
By the 1880’s, many sawmills were being moved to places where trees still stood. Many of the
large lumber operations had been established in Upper Michigan and Northern Wisconsin. There were
many trees left in the inland areas of the Peninsula. However, for most mill owners the problem of
getting lumber to the coastal piers made harvesting too costly (Lotz 1994).
All of the lumber business centered in cedar trees, which were large enough to cut. But there
were millions of cedars too small to even make fence post. About 1885, J.H. Mathews of Milwaukee,
who understood the process of making cedar oil for furniture polish, built a factory on the northeast side
of Rowley’s Bay. The distillery lasted only two years and closed when the trees were used up (Lotz
1994).
The area’s history reflects both Indian settlement and American’s pioneer movement. Logging
and farming, followed by a burgeoning tourism industry has put its strains on the area over the years. Yet
one of the most dramatic influences on the quality of the estuary is the change in lake level. As the marsh
goes from exposed sediment to deep water and back again, the mix of vegetation keeps any one natural
community from being preeminent.
Despite development and use, changing fortunes and careful local conservation over time helped
protect this fresh water estuary in much the same condition as when it was inhabited by the Potawatomi
Indians more than a century ago (Peterson 1991).
SITE FEATURES:
Natural Communities of the Mink River / Rowley’s Bay area
• The Mink River landscape comprises a mosaic of wildlife habitats. The uplands of the watershed
hold scattered patches of forest, abandoned agricultural fields and orchards interspersed with active
agricultural lands and low density residential development. Although most of the upland forest had
been removed by the early 1900’s and replaced with open agricultural fields and orchards, the low
wet forest immediately surrounding the marsh and river, while cut extensively for timber, and
significantly altered as a result, was not replaced with a different land use.
• The estuary, where the waters of the river and the lake meet, is an important spawning habitat for fish,
particularly northern pike and smallmouth bass. These two species as well as yellow perch and black
bullheads make up the bulk of the fishery according to interviews with fishery biologists and
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Mink River / Rowley’s Bay System