Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

diverse fishery and benthic community (Fassbender 2000). Smallmouth bass and yellow perch are
common fish in the harbor.
• Figenscaus Harbor (sometimes referred to as Figenscaus Bay) is located on the southwest corner of
Washington Island. It has approximately 100 acres of water area lying below the normal high water
mark of Lake Michigan. This harbor also has a diverse community of native aquatic plants, and is
also being studied as a possible state natural area. Known plants include flat-stemmed pondweed,
milfoil, Richardson pondweed, wild celery, Illinois pondweed, chara, and coontail. Curly leafed
pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) an invasive exotic is also present. The aquatic plants support a
diverse fishery and benthic community. This area is also used heavily by migrating waterfowl
(Fassbender 2000).
• Washington Harbor is located in the northwest section of Washington Island. This north facing bay is
located between Boyer Bluff to the west and Coffee Swamp to the east. Various archaeological sites
are located near Washington Harbor. A historical site is found on the southeast shoreline. The
dominant fish of this harbor is smallmouth bass. Other fish include yellow perch, northern pike, and
Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).
• Facing Rock Island State Park is Jackson Harbor. It has approximately 100 acres of water area lying
below the normal high water mark of Lake Michigan. Like West Harbor and Figenscaus Harbor,
Jackson Harbor houses a highly diverse population of native aquatic plants and is being looked at by
the WDNR for state natural area designation. Known plants include flat stemmed pondweed, milfoil,
Richardson pondweed, wild celery, sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus), largeleaf pondweed
(Potamogeton amplifolius), elodea (Elodea canadensis), and small pondweed (Potamogeton pusillus).
Curly leafed pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) and Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum),
invasive exotics are also present. A diverse fishery and benthic community seems to thrive because
of the aquatic plants. Waterfowl also use this harbor during migration (Fassbender 2000). Most of
the eastern shoreline is sand beach and wetlands. Helping to preserve the beach, dunes, swales, and
rare plants is the designation, Jackson Harbor Ridges State Natural Area. The bay is a spawning
habitat for smallmouth bass, northern pike, and yellow perch (Corbisier 2000).
• Little Lake is located in the northwest section of Washington Island. The lake is 23.6 acres and has a
maximum depth of seven feet. This landlocked lake may have been created from a shallow bay of the
glacial Lake Nipping stage. A 250-foot cobblestone ridge separates Little Lake from Lake Michigan
(Kasprzak and Walter 2001). A small museum and dock serve as a public access point at the
southwest portion of the lake. Older stands of white cedar and hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) surround
the north side of the lake, while the remaining portion is surrounded with various types of wooded
vegetation. A floating bog mat is located in the northeast section of Little Lake.
• Animals associated with Little Lake are blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale), several
species of frogs, and breeding waterfowl. Songbirds are common residents during the spring and
summer months on Washington Island.
• Rare boreal rich fen plants of Washington Island wetlands include slim-stem small-reedgrass
(Calamagrostis stricta), low calamint (Calamintha arkansana), northern bog sedge (Carex
gynocrates), livid sedge (Carex livida var radicaulis), showy lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium reginae),
tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa), few-flower spikerush (Eleocharis quinqueflora), and
thickspike (Elymus lanceolatus spp. psmmophilus). Rare emergent aquatic plants include variegated
horsetail (Equisetum variegatum), seaside spurge (Euphorbia polygonifolia), and lesser fringed
gentian (Gentianopsis procera). One rare Great Lakes beach plant, the American sea-rocket (Cakile
Grand Traverse Islands 131