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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Recognizing qualitative differences among natural areas and other types of open space<br />
The range of land uses on the landscape also leads <strong>to</strong> variability in the quality of natural areas.<br />
For example, one mesic cedar forest may be a large, intact natural community with little evidence of<br />
human use. Another may have a boardwalk nature trail in it and may occasionally receive some urban<br />
s<strong>to</strong>rmwater runoff. The second has a lower quality than the first, but could still be defined as a natural<br />
area. Similarly, one prairie might be managed with controlled burning and support a large diversity of<br />
native plant and animal species.<br />
Another may be somewhat overgrown with brush, have a few exotic invasive plants, and support<br />
fewer native species. Again, the second has a lower quality than the first, but could still be high enough<br />
quality <strong>to</strong> be considered a natural area. In addition, lands not considered natural areas often still possess<br />
important natural resource values. For example, a field that was plowed in the past and that now supports<br />
European bromegrass (an invasive exotic species) may provide important habitat for animals that live in<br />
grasslands, even though it is not considered a natural area. A forest that has been recently logged does not<br />
qualify as a natural area, but it does provide habitat for some species of wildlife and supports some<br />
natural resource functions.<br />
Another kind of land not considered a natural area is land supporting res<strong>to</strong>red vegetation, that is,<br />
it has been planted <strong>to</strong> native species in an effort <strong>to</strong> res<strong>to</strong>re a natural community. These are lands that will<br />
someday resemble natural areas, but because they have been planted on altered sites, they are not defined<br />
as natural areas.<br />
Wisconsin’s State Natural Areas Program<br />
Wisconsin's landscape has experienced dramatic changes in the 150 years since intensive<br />
settlement began. Little remains of the natural plant and animal communities which occupied our lands<br />
and waters in the settlement era and which set the stage for what Wisconsin has become. Their scattered<br />
remnants, which escaped the saw, the plow, and other development, are called natural areas. These<br />
exceptional sites are often the last refuges for rare plants and animals. We owe much <strong>to</strong> Wisconsin's early<br />
conservationists, who in 1951 recognized the loss of natural communities and their importance, and<br />
fostered the first state program in the United States <strong>to</strong> preserve them.<br />
State Natural Areas (SNAs) are formally designated sites devoted <strong>to</strong> scientific research, the<br />
teaching of conservation biology, and especially <strong>to</strong> the preservation of their natural values and genetic<br />
diversity for future generations. They are not intended for intensive recreational uses like picnicking or<br />
camping. Wisconsin's Natural Areas Program (NAP) holds <strong>to</strong> its original mission: <strong>to</strong> locate and preserve<br />
a system of State Natural Areas harboring all types of biotic communities, rare species, and other<br />
significant natural features native <strong>to</strong> Wisconsin. However, significant changes have come in<strong>to</strong> the<br />
program since its inception.<br />
Site Establishment and Protection<br />
Wisconsin's NAP is housed in the Bureau of Endangered Resources (BER), within the<br />
Department of Natural Resources. Staff of BER oversees all aspects of the NAP in consultation with the<br />
Natural Areas Preservation Council (NAPC). The Council, formerly called the State Board for the<br />
Preservation of Scientific Areas, was established by the state legislature in 1951. This group serves as an<br />
advisory body <strong>to</strong> the Natural Areas Program. Its eleven members, drawn from the scientific and<br />
educational community of the state, guides the NAP staff in their mission <strong>to</strong> identify, manage and protect<br />
natural areas.<br />
The natural area preservation process begins with identification and selection of the highest<br />
quality sites. Identification of sites is accomplished largely through the continuing Natural Heritage<br />
Inven<strong>to</strong>ry (NHI); a section within the BER. The NHI maintains a comprehensive register of the state's<br />
natural features and rare species. This information, contained in an integrated system of maps and<br />
computer databases, is the result of 25 years of ongoing biological inven<strong>to</strong>ries.<br />
180<br />
Appendix D – Natural Areas: A Definition &Status Report