Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest

State Natural Area (No. 13)

Location: Within Peninsula State Park, Door County. T31N-R27E, Sections 28, 29. 53 acres.

Access: From Fish Creek, go north on State Highway 42 about 0.5 mile to the south entrance to Peninsula State Park. Follow Shore Road north into the park and obtain a park map at the office. Access to the natural area is from Shore Road via the Sunset Trail, or Middle Road via Hemlock Trail. A Wisconsin State Park sticker must be displayed on all vehicles entering the park.

Description: Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest features a continuum of five distinct community types that change with elevation away from Green Bay. On the western side of the site, a one-acre open marsh dominated by bluejoint grass, reed grass, and rushes is found. Immediately to the east of the marsh is an open calcareous meadow on a lake dune with low juniper, gay-wings, and two rare plants: lesser fringed gentian (Gentianopsis procera) and bird's-eye primrose (Primula mistassinica). A wet-mesic conifer swamp dominated by white cedar and black and white spruce is located in the transition between the lower and upper beach zones. Impressive vertical cliffs of Niagara dolomite, vegetated with ferns and other cliff-dwelling plants, are found on the western side. A mixed upland forest dominated by white cedar, white birch, and sugar maple is found at the summit of the escarpment. The floor of the cedar-spruce forest lacks diversity but does contain such showy species as yellow lady's-slippers and Indian paint-brush. The federally-threatened dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris) is found in scattered patches. Bird life is characteristic of areas much farther north and includes winter wren, red-breasted nuthatch, Nashville, black-throated green, and Blackburnian warblers, ovenbird, and veery. Peninsula Park White Cedar Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1952.