Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

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