Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

A description of Foscoro was written in 1871 and appeared in the Milwaukee News of March 15,
1871. “ To the north of the village plat, about a quarter of a mile, a high bluff at the lake recedes some
forty or fifty rods and diminishes to a gentle hill, which extends southeasterly about the same distance
from the lake for some miles and then returns to the shore again. Within this amphitheater is in the future,
the sweetest village that the waves of Lake Michigan shall kiss. ……. One other feature I must tell you.
Into this amphitheater comes a stream, nearly as large as Cedar Creek in Ozaukee County, bounding
along as if glad to get there, and then stops in a quiet estuary at the lake and smiles upon the scene.
The Indian name of this stream I understand to be Sensippi, which I am informed means “stream
of rocks”, a name very appropriate, as its bed is filled with the freight of some former glacier” (Holand
1917). The small villages of Clay Banks, and Horns Pier are discussed later in the section “Southern
Lake Michigan Shoreline” found on page 61.
SITE FEATURES:
Stony Creek Wetland Complex
Stony Creek begins in a series of low seasonally flooded hardwood swamps and perennial
wetlands north of Maplewood and south of Highway 57. Upstream of Geier Road the small streams that
drain these wetlands unite to form the main stem of Stony Creek. From Geier Road to Carnot the stream
flows through a wide wetland of open emergent marshes that are interspersed with banks of willow,
dogwood, nanny berry (Viburnum lentago), sweet gale (Myrica gale), meadow sweet (Spirea alba), and
alder or small patches of lowland forest. In this section the stream, at times, becomes wide enough to take
on the appearance of a small river.
Below County Road J the character of the stream changes again. The riparian wetlands disappear
and the current of the water increases until just upstream of County Road U. Stony Creek becomes a
rushing creek bounded by a narrow damp forest terrace and steep forested banks. The stream empties into
Lake Michigan just south of the Door County line. Throughout its length the Stony Creek complex is a
landscape of second growth forest patches, active farmlands, and extensive wetlands of various types.
• Soils are of two types. The area is primarily composed of deep, well drained to poorly drained nearly
level to sloping soils. A loamy sand to silt loam subsoil overlies sandy loam or loam till. The second
type is very poorly drained, nearly level organic soils (USDA SCS 1978).
• Stony Creek is 13.6 miles long and approximately 16 feet at its widest point. It has a low gradient of
8.5 feet/mile. The upper reaches of the stream are classified as a warm water forage fishery and the
lower 5 miles are classified as Cold Class II Water. A variation of water quality occurs between the
upper and lower reaches of the stream. Upper portions have been ditched and are slow moving
(Corbisier 2000).
• The forests comprising this landscape are generally second growth with silver maple, green ash and
elm dominating the hardwood swamps in the headwaters of the stream. In the center section of the
complex the forest types include lowland white cedar and a mix of hardwoods and cedar. The
dominant plant of the open emergent wetlands above Carnot is reed canary grass (Phalaris
arundinacea). Mixed with this aggressive grass are coarse sedges (e.g., Carex aqualtilus), and large
wetland forbs (e.g., Solidago spp., Eupatorium spp.). Common aquatic macrophytes in this stretch
include coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum), yellow pond lily (Nuphar variegata), and (Spirodela
polyrrhiza).
• Stony Creek is stocked annually with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Other species of fish
present include suckers (Catostomus spp.), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), and Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus kisutch).
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Stony Creek Wetlands Complex