Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

STONY CREEK WETLANDS COMPLEX
LOCATION:
The Stony Creek Wetlands Complex covers approximately 6,370 acres and lies in southeastern
Door County (T25-26N, R25E) in the Towns of Forestville and Nasewaupee. As this report represents
general areas of concern, exact location of boundary lines have not been designated.
GENERAL SITE DESCRIPTION:
Stony Creek Wetlands Complex is situated north of the Ahnapee River Corridor and connects
with the Sawyer Harbor/Lost Creek & Larson Creek Watershed Complex and the Hungry Settlement
Marsh to the north.
As of 2002, the Town of Forestville had not adopted a county or a town-zoning ordinance,
however numerous discussions have taken place over the past few years. The Town of Nasewaupee does
not currently utilize land use regulation or zoning, except for state-mandated zoning of shorelines and
navigable streams; however, a planning initiative was started in the summer of 1997. Numerous public
meetings, surveys, informational forums have taken place and along with professional land use planning
services are being used to develop a comprehensive land use plan. Considerable information has been
gathered, all leading toward a land use framework that reflects the public’s wishes and intentions. Many
community members are volunteering substantial time and energy at various levels to develop the town’s
comprehensive land use plan, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2003.
ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The "Heritage Areas of Door County" publication lists wetlands in this complex among the three
most important inland wetland resources of southern Door County (Emmerich 1978). Also, this wetland
complex is regarded as the second most important wildlife heritage area of southern Door County
(Zimmerman 1989).
The Stony Creek Wetland Complex is the largest creek system in the southern portion of the
county and the extensive lowland and upland areas provide habitat for fish, animals and plants. In
addition to being home to an ecologically significant wetland system, this complex joins with the Sawyer
Harbor/Lost Creek & Larson Creek Watersheds Complex and the Hungry Settlement Marsh to form a
contiguous 10,000-acre corridor extending from the Door County line north to Sawyer Harbor.
Preliminary summer bird surveys for this site found Sora (Porzana carolina), Virginia Rail
(Rallus limicola), Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas),
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) (one of North America's most seriously declining
songbirds), Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), Blackbilled
Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus), Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), Hooded Merganser
(Lophodytes cuccullatus), Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis), and Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax
alnorum) in the open shrub-filled wetlands along the stream north of Carnot.
NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES:
Along the shoreline around and north of Stony Creek were at one time, several villages –
Foscoro, Clay Banks, and Horns Pier. Each of these villages had a post office and telegraph station.
Some time in the 1860’s, three men picked a favorable spot, where Stony Creek rambles down among its
rocks to the lake, to construct a mill and pier for shipping of forest products. Their names were Foster,
Coe and Rowe, hence one of the village names was a combination of the first syllables of their surnames
“Fos-co-ro” (Holand 1917).
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