Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

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Peninsula Park Beech Forest State Natural Area
Description: Peninsula Park Beech Forest is comprised of 80-acres and features a continuum of forest
types from the dry edge of the Niagara dolostone escarpment to rolling uplands forested with mesic
species. The northern mesic forest is old second-growth, with sugar maple, American beech, hemlock,
yellow birch, white birch, and ironwood; some trees are nearly 2 feet in diameter. Understory species
include yellow blue-bead-lily, large-flowered trillium, red baneberry, Hooker’s orchid, and long-bracted
green orchid. Relict red oak and white pine are scattered through the area. To the east, between Shore
Road and the bluff edge, is a young northern dry-mesic forest dominated by red oak and white pine. The
bluff drops 150 feet to several terraces, which are forested with white cedar and hardwoods. The base of
the bluff along Green Bay supports many ferns including bulblet, fragile, polypody, slender cliff brake,
walking, and marginal wood ferns. The beach is composed of dolostone cobblestones with little
vegetation. Numerous mesic forest plants and animals are present along with several uncommon orchids.
Noted University of Wisconsin plant ecologist John Curtis used this site as a representative northern
mesic forest study site. Peninsula Park Beech Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State
Natural Area in 1952.
Access: From Ephraim, go south on State Highway 42 about 1 mile to the north entrance to Peninsula
State Park. Follow Shore Road north to the Eagle Tower parking area. Access to the natural area is via
Shore Road, Highland Road, or the Sentinel Hiking Trail, which forms the northern boundary of the site.
Park maps are available at the contact station. A Wisconsin State Park sticker must be displayed on all
vehicles entering the park.
Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest State Natural Area
Description: Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest features a continuum of five distinct community types
consisting of 53-acres that change with elevation away from Green Bay. On the western side of the site, a
one-acre open marsh dominated by bluejoint grass, reed grass, and rushes is found. Immediately to the
east of the marsh is an open calcareous meadow on a lake dune with low juniper, gay-wings, and two rare
plants: lesser fringed gentian (Gentianopsis procera) and bird’s-eye primrose (Primula mistassinica). A
wet-mesic conifer swamp dominated by white cedar and black and white spruce is located in the
transition between the lower and upper beach zones. Impressive vertical cliffs of Niagara dolostone,
vegetated with ferns and other cliff-dwelling plants, are found on the western side. A mixed upland forest
dominated by white cedar, white birch, and sugar maple is found at the summit of the escarpment. The
floor of the cedar-spruce forest lacks diversity but does contain such showy species as yellow
lady's-slippers and Indian paint-brush. The federally threatened dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris) is found in
scattered patches. Bird life is characteristic of areas much farther north and includes Winter Wren, Redbreasted
Nuthatch, Nashville, Black-throated Green, and Blackburnian Warblers, Ovenbird, and Veery.
Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in
1952.
Access: From Fish Creek, go north on State Highway 42 about 0.5 mile to the south entrance to
Peninsula State Park. Follow Shore Road north into the park and obtain a park map at the office. Access
to the natural area is from Shore Road via the Sunset Trail, or Middle Road via Hemlock Trail. A
Wisconsin State Park sticker must be displayed on all vehicles entering the park.
Appendix D – Natural Areas: A Definition &Status Report