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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• Rock Island has excellent quality state significant rare species and plant communities including a<br />
Great Lakes dune community. The flora of 359 species is surprisingly rich considering the near-<strong>to</strong>tal<br />
lack of wetlands (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).<br />
• The aesthetic value of Rock Island is its remote setting away from the mainland of <strong>Door</strong> <strong>County</strong> and<br />
receives less human disturbance than other areas. The island is state owned and people can visit and<br />
enjoy the island’s scenic attributes through low disturbance recreational activities.<br />
Chambers Island<br />
Chambers Island is 5 square miles and the second largest of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan Islands.<br />
It is located approximately 3.1 miles northwest of Fish Creek and 3.9 miles from the Michigan shoreline.<br />
The island’s dunes, beaches, and forests remain relatively intact. This island is privately owned except<br />
for a 40 acre Town of Gibraltar Park at the lighthouse (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).<br />
• Chambers Island is in the Town of Gibraltar. Gibraltar has adopted <strong>Door</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s zoning ordinance.<br />
• Land use is primarily small estate residential and recreational and commercial near the dock and<br />
retreat center. Town roads are low-specification “tunnels” in the woods. This helps <strong>to</strong> discourage the<br />
invasion of the forest by cowbirds. Cooperation between the WDNR and Chambers Island<br />
Landowners Association (CILA) benefits the plant and animal community.<br />
• Issues of concern include continuing responsible forestry practices (there is a select cut for sawtimber<br />
every 15 years) maintaining “low-spec” <strong>to</strong>wn roads, and assuring logging equipment is free of garlic<br />
mustard seeds (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).<br />
• The Island is composed of sand, clay and gravel, with a maximum elevation of only 17-m above<br />
Green Bay. Although the underlying bedrock is mapped as Silurian dolos<strong>to</strong>ne, it is nowhere exposed<br />
on the island and the sandy-clayey soils give general indications of being nutrient-poor and somewhat<br />
acidic. Topography is more similar <strong>to</strong> Marinette <strong>County</strong> than that of <strong>Door</strong> <strong>County</strong> (Judziewicz and<br />
Kopitzke 1999).<br />
• Several wetlands are found on the island. Lake Mackaysee is a large 374 acre shallow lake with a<br />
maximum depth of 27 feet. The lake is thought <strong>to</strong> be spring fed. A 1994 survey showed no evidence<br />
of exotic plant species (Corbisier 2000). There are aquatic macrophytes and several ridges and<br />
swales on the western shore. Approximately 0.4 miles south of Lake Mackaysee is a wetland area<br />
dominated by small leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata).<br />
• Krause or Mud Lake is 3.7 acres with a maximum depth of 24 feet (Corbisier 2000). It is surrounded<br />
by acidic oak-pine-aspen woodlands including huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) and blueberry.<br />
Adjoining wetlands contain three-way sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum) and sweet flag (Acorus<br />
americanus) (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).<br />
• Forests are of variable quality and are extensive. They include second growth mixed beech, hemlock,<br />
sugar maple, red oak, basswood, red maple, birch, and an occasional bitternut hickory (Carya<br />
cordiformis). Other vegetation is predominantly white pine, red pine (Pinus resinosa), and juniper<br />
(Juniperus communis). Unders<strong>to</strong>ry is comprised of violets (Viola spp.), wood anemone (Anemone<br />
quinquefolia), hog peanut (Amphicarpa bracteata), wide-leaved panic grass (Panicum latifolium),<br />
smooth aster (Aster laevis), and pale vetch (Lathyrus ochroleucus).<br />
136<br />
Grand Traverse Islands