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 beach area has many dry and wet sand areas and interdunal swales. One large swale includes an<br />
unusual community of plants preferring wet calcareous soils (Merryfield 2000).<br />
• Common plant species include brook lobelia (Lobelia kalmii) shrubby cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides<br />
floribunda), Arctic primrose (Primula mistassinica), low calamint, slender bog arrow-grass<br />
(Triglochin palustris), bladderworts (Utricularia spp.), and various sedges.<br />
• Drier dunes contain drought resistant plants like bearberry (Arc<strong>to</strong>staphylos uva-ursi), junipers<br />
(Juniperus spp.), and sand coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata). Behind the dunes is a mixed coniferhardwood<br />
forest of red and white pines, white cedar, balsam fir (Abies balsamea), and American<br />
beech (Merryfield 2000).<br />
• Other plants common at Jackson Harbor are Seneca snakeroot (Polygala senega) and Iceland moss<br />
(Cetraria islandica).<br />
• A sand spit at the entrance point <strong>to</strong> Jackson Harbor attracts gulls, terns, shorebirds and waterfowl<br />
(Merryfield 2000). Many species of songbirds are common in Jackson Harbor (Zimmerman 1989).<br />
Big and Little Marsh<br />
Together Big and Little Marsh are approximately 570 acres located halfway up the eastern coast<br />
of Washing<strong>to</strong>n Island. Percy Johnson <strong>County</strong> Park is 5 acres located near a sandy barrier beach mostly<br />
developed with unpaved roads and houses. The park contains good quality remnant Great Lakes Beach<br />
and Lake Dune communities with several rare plants. Behind the beach is undeveloped open wetland and<br />
wooded swamp called Big Marsh. Northeast of Big Marsh is Little Marsh also known as Wickman<br />
Marsh (Corbisier 2000). It includes swamp hardwoods and an ephemeral pond (Merryfield 2000).<br />
• Both Big and Little Marsh are privately owned, and there is some residential development<br />
(Zimmerman 1989).<br />
• Big Marsh has sections containing patches of nearly bare marl with pavements of dolos<strong>to</strong>ne gravel<br />
and cobbles exposed when water levels are low (Merryfield 2000).<br />
• Water depth in Big Marsh ranges from 2 feet in the spring <strong>to</strong> completely dry in the fall. Water levels<br />
are also dependent on Lake Michigan (Merryfield 2000). Little Marsh contains 14 acres of open<br />
water segmented by woodland creating a north and south basin. Maximum depth is 1.5 feet<br />
(Corbisier 2000).<br />
• Big Marsh is a combination of boreal rich fen, and relatively high quality northern wet-mesic forest.<br />
A 38-acre emergent aquatic marsh is located on marl substrate dominated by softstem bulrush<br />
(Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani). Southwest is a 60-acre northern wet-mesic forest or white cedar<br />
swamp of high quality. Northwest of the marsh is a 7-acre boreal rich fen dominated by wire-leaved<br />
sedges, sweet gale, shrubby cinquefoil, and swamp buckthorn (Rhamnus alnifolius). Little Marsh<br />
contains lower quality communities, predominantly a northern hardwood swamp dominated by black<br />
ash (Fraxinus nigra), and an ephemeral pond (Merryfield 2000).<br />
• Little Marsh provides resting habitat for waterfowl during migration (Corbisier 2000).<br />
• Several rare plant species occur in Big Marsh and its surrounding area.<br />
Grand Traverse Islands 133