Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

WEST BRANCH WHITEFISH BAY CREEK CORRIDOR
LOCATION:
The West Branch Whitefish Bay Creek Corridor covers approximately 2,150 acres in central
Door County (T28N, R26E) in the Towns of Egg Harbor, Jacksonport, and Sevastopol. As this report
represents general areas of concern, exact locations of boundary lines have not been designated.
SITE DESCRIPTION:
The West Branch Whitefish Bay Creek Corridor, locally known as Maple Creek, begins east of a
small pond in the Town of Egg Harbor. The corridor extends southeast to the West Branch of Whitefish
Bay Creek, then it follows the creek to Whitefish Dunes State Park. South of Whitefish Dunes State Park
is the proposed conservation project Shivering Sands, partially owned by the Nature Conservancy.
ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Factors contributing to the ecological significance of this site include the unroaded mosaic of
forest types at the headwaters of the stream, the contiguous nature of the riparian habitat, and the
structural quality and ecological function of several individual forest and wetland tracts within the site.
The lack of roads through the headwater forests of this stream represent an opportunity to protect habitat
for those species requiring large forested tracts. While the quality of the habitat structure throughout the
forest varies the overall size and integrity of the forest is impressive for this portion of Door County.
The riparian habitat carried by this stream stretches through an agricultural landscape in portions
of three townships in the south central northern Door County, and connects the large forest block near
Lake Michigan at Whitefish Dunes State Park with the large forest block at the headwaters of this stream.
This important landscape connection while impaired by road crossings and a constriction of the riparian
corridor at County Road WD is for the most part in tact and could be enhanced.
Several individual locations within this site bear special note for their significance. The open
semi-permanent marsh on the south side of County Road I at the extreme south west end of this site is
annually used by large numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds during spring migration. The diversity of
species is equally impressive, as it is not uncommon to see 10 or more species of waterfowl at one time at
this wetland. Elsewhere, within the headwater forest, good quality upland tracts of mature hemlock,
sugar maple and beech grow on the rolling glacial moraine formations along the stream. Several tracts
show little evidence of recent cutting and hold a diverse native ground flora.
A complete account of the ecological significance of this area is dependent on further biological
inventories of the site. However, several rare plants and invertebrates have been cataloged; refer to the
Natural Community Cross Reference, Appendix “A” and Wisconsin’s Natural Heritage Inventory,
Appendix “B”.
NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES:
The area has a rich cultural history. Artifacts found near the mouth of the creek may date as early
as 1100 BC. Archaeological excavations carried out prior to the construction of the Whitefish Dunes
Visitor Center revealed eight occupations, beginning with the North Bay people about 100 BC, followed
by the descendants, the Heins Creek people (Dirst 1993). Certain key environmental attractants, abundant
fish, wild plant food, wildlife and easy beach access to mention a few, brought people to this locality time
and time again.
Around AD 900 the Oneota people arrived. They continued to visit Whitefish Dunes through at
least AD1400. Then, around 1640 the Potawatomis and Indian refugees from other eastern tribes moved
into the area. The Potawatomis were still here when Euro-Americans arrived in the 1800’s.
West Branch Whitefish Bay Creek Corridor 77