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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188<br />
Whitefish Dunes State Natural Area<br />
Description: Whitefish Dunes State Natural Area encompasses 230-acres within the boundaries of the<br />
Whitefish Dunes State Park and preserves the largest and most significant Great Lakes dunescape in<br />
Wisconsin. The complex of active and stabilized dunes protected by Whitefish Bay along the Lake<br />
Michigan coast contains a rich flora particularly adapted <strong>to</strong> this dynamic habitat. All stages of succession,<br />
from open beach through northern mesic and wet-mesic forest, are represented here. The lakeside fore<br />
dune is open, sandy and vegetated with common milkweed, beach wormwood, beach pea, lyrate rockcress<br />
and several beach grasses, including the state-threatened thick-spike wheat grass (Elytrigia<br />
dasystachya ssp. psammophila) and sand-reed (Calamovilfa longifolia var. magna). Wisconsin’s largest<br />
and most viable population of the federally-threatened dune thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) inhabits the shifting<br />
sands of the fore dune. The backside of the fore dune is forested with white birch, balsam fir, and white<br />
cedar and contains a ground cover of abundant Canada yew. The dunes farther from the lake are more<br />
stabilized and heavily wooded with northern mesic forest of sugar maple, large-<strong>to</strong>othed aspen, eastern<br />
hemlock, and American beech. Also present is a small bog lake with associated sedge meadow and<br />
frontage on Clark Lake, a baymouth bar lake. Common nesting birds include Red-eyed Vireo, Veery,<br />
Black-throated Green and Canada Warblers, American Redstart, and Eastern Wood-Pewee. Whitefish<br />
Dunes is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1980.<br />
Access: From the intersection of State Highway 57 and <strong>County</strong> Highway T in Valmy, go north on 57 1.1<br />
miles, then east on Clark Lake Road (<strong>County</strong> Highway WD) about 3.6 miles <strong>to</strong> a parking lot at the park<br />
office. Park maps are available at the office. Several hiking trails lead south in<strong>to</strong> the dunes. A Wisconsin<br />
State Park sticker must be displayed on all vehicles entering the park.<br />
Marshall’s Point State Natural Area<br />
Description: Marshall's Point consist of 113-acres and contains a relict boreal forest dominated by white<br />
cedar, balsam fir, and white spruce and includes 2000 feet of Lake Michigan shoreline. Old beach lines<br />
form 2- <strong>to</strong> 4-foot limes<strong>to</strong>ne ledges and provide local relief on the otherwise level <strong>to</strong>pography. The coastal<br />
location, with its cool microclimate, is partially responsible for the rich association of mosses and<br />
liverworts. The vascular plant flora is equally as rich in diversity containing several rare and restricted<br />
plants. The interior of the site, near the peninsula's center, is forested with northern mesic forest that has<br />
been undisturbed for more than 100 years. Soils have formed over limes<strong>to</strong>ne bedrock and have<br />
accumulated raw organic matter. These are termed raw humus rendzina, an extremely rare phenomenon.<br />
Nesting birds include Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Blackburnian Warbler, Northern Parula,<br />
and White-throated Sparrow. Marshall’s Point is owned by Marshall’s Point Association and was<br />
designated a State Natural Area in 1986.<br />
Access: Public access is restricted due <strong>to</strong> the sensitive nature of the site. Contact The State Natural Areas<br />
Program for more information.<br />
Appendix D – Natural Areas: A Definition &Status Report