Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

BAY TO LAKE WILDLIFE CORRIDOR
LOCATION:
The Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor covers approximately 15,200 acres in north central Door
County. The corridor extends in two branches south of Peninsula State Park to the shore of Lake
Michigan in eastern Door County (T29-30N, R28E). This area is in the Towns of Gibraltar, Egg Harbor,
Jacksonport and Bailey’s Harbor. As this report represents general areas of concern, exact locations of
boundary lines have not been designated.
GENERAL SITE DESCRIPTION:
The Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor is adjacent to and contiguous with Peninsula State Park. The
Fish Creek Watershed begins on the western shore of Door County along the Niagara Escarpment, a
prominent ridge of dolostone bedrock. Thorp Pond and its associated wetlands are connected to the Fish
Creek Watershed. Both upland forest and lowland hardwood and conifer swamps are ecological features
of this portion of the corridor. Hibbards Creek originates southeast of Thorp Pond and flows through wet
and dry mesic woodlands, a conifer swamp, shrub-carr, and ridge and swale complex before draining into
Lake Michigan. As a continuous corridor, Hibbards Creek, Fish Creek and Thorp Pond connect the bay
side of the county with the lakeside.
The second branch of the Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor encompasses the shoreline of the north
end of Kangaroo Lake, the Piel Creek Corridor, adjoining lowland and lowland forests, and several tracts
of old fields that buffer the site. Piel Creek is the major surface water source for Kangaroo Lake.
Connecting the southern portion of Kangaroo Lake and the Lake Michigan Shore is Meridian Park, an
area with intact lakeshore ridge and swale communities.
ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The site encompasses a major natural corridor between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. This
corridor not only holds many rare species and significant natural areas it also provides a major ecological
connection across the Peninsula, despite the fragmentation by roads, agricultural land and residential
development. Places like Thorp Pond, Hibbards Creek, Piel Creek, the north basin of Kangaroo Lake,
and Meridian Park which lie within this site contain numerous state listed species and high quality natural
communities. Three designated State Natural Areas are contiguous with this corridor: Peninsula Park
Beech Forest; Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest; and Kangaroo Lake.
The corridor is rich in diverse habitat types including a fen with boreal elements, alkaline sedge
marshes, open water wetlands and small lakes, perennial and intermittent streams (both warm and cold
water), lowland conifer forests, swamp hardwood forests, stands of northern conifer/hardwoods on clay
loams and sand. There are several exposures of dolostone especially in the Fish Creek / Peninsula Park
landscape and in Meridian Park. Ridge and swale formations exist in Meridian Park and near the outlet
of Hibbards Creek.
The highest quality forest communities in this corridor hold mature to near old growth conditions
with large diameter shade tolerant trees, an uneven age forest structure, and large fallen trees. These
conditions are most common in the wet-mesic forests south of Kangaroo Lake and in the hardwood /
conifer swamps near Thorp Pond and the upper Fish Creek watershed. These old-growth patches lie in a
matrix of younger aged forests of varying species composition and often-simpler structure.
Local areas of high species diversity and rarity include Thorp Pond, Meridian Park, the north end
of Kangaroo Lake, and the upper Fish Creek forest and escarpment landscape. The presence of nonnative
aggressive species is currently minimal, however troublesome species like Japanese knotweed,
barberry, exotic honeysuckle, and Scotch pine are present in scattered locations.
Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor 97