Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

• Near the lighthouse and north end of the island are a variety of wildflowers including great flowered
trillium and great-flowered bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora). Where dolostone gravel wash up onto
the shoreline, buffalo-berry and herb-robert (Geranium robertianum) occur.
• Sand Point and North Bay harbor remnants of a Great Lakes barren community, possibly the best
example of this community type in the state. Typical plants include juniper, beach-grass, white and
red pines, little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indian-grass (Sorghastrum nutans), needle-andthread
grass (Stipa spartea), Muhlenberg’s sedge (Carex muhlenbergii), New Jersey tea (Ceanothus
spp.) butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), blazing-star (Liatris aspera), hoary puccoon (Lithospermum
caroliniense) and spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) an aggressive exotic.
• A related natural community is Great Lakes beaches that occurs on three parts of the island.
Dominant species are cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), evening primrose (Oenothera spp.),
knotweed (Polygonum ramossimum), and state special concern species the American sea-rocket
(Cakile edentula) and seaside spurge (Euphorbia polygonifolia) (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).
• White-tailed deer have been absent on the island for approximately 10 years, allowing for tree
regeneration (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999). Many species of songbirds are common on the island.
• Mackaysee Lake contains excellent populations of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides),
smallmouth bass, and northern pike. Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and yellow perch are also
present; Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) have been reported but have not been documented.
No current records exist for fish in Mud Lake; historically largemouth bass, and bluegills were the
dominant species (Corbisier 2000).
• Heritage Areas of Door County (Emmerich 1978) cites the historic and aesthetic value of Chambers
Island as a wildlife habitat with special forest resources (Zimmerman 1989). Aesthetic value is also
due to the absence of invasive exotic plants, lack of deer herbivory, and remoteness from the
mainland.
Cana Island
Cana Island is 8.7 acres located off the coast of the Lake Michigan shore 7 miles northeast of
Bailey’s Harbor. When lake levels are low, the island is connected with the mainland by a causeway.
Cana Island is known for its restored and maintained lighthouse, circa 1870, that is in the National
Register of Historic Places.
• Cana Island is in the Town of Bailey’s Harbor. The federal government owns the island.
• The primary land use is natural area including upland and lowland boreal forest, light residential and
one small animal farm (Zimmerman 1989).
• The shoreline consists of low dolostone shelves. The island is part of the Niagara Escarpment
composed of dolostone bedrock and cobble stone with scattered glacial erratics. There is only a thin
layer of soil covering the bedrock (Hamm 2001).
• There are several small wetlands and wet shore lots on Cana Island (Zimmerman 1989).
• White cedar forests dominate the vegetation cover. Understory plants are relatively disturbed. There
are many invasive exotic plants on the island (Judziewicz and Kopitzke 1999).
Grand Traverse Islands 137