| Twenty of thirty years [ago] the cheerful, chattering song
of the active bird, the short-billed marsh wren (Cistothorus stellaris)(sic)
was heard in every low prairie covered with fine carex... I have
seen or heard scarcely a bird of this kind for fifteen or twenty
years. Their song has been silenced by the click of the mower.
The hay harvest comes before the young are fledged, hence the
mower is fatal to this wren's best interests. They have gone,
I hope, somewhere where carex abounds and mowers do not. |
—Philo R. Hoy, Man's Influence on the
Avifauna of Southeastern Wisconsin
(Hoy 1885)
Before European settlement, this natural division was largely dominated
by northern mesic forests, with pockets of conifer swamps, pine barrens,
pine forests, sedge meadows, lowland hardwood forests, boreal forests
(northern Door County), southern mesic forests (in the southern tip),
and a few oak savannas. Major habitat for grassland birds was generally
limited to the extensive emergent marshes and sedge meadows of the west
shore of Green Bay, some of the barrens habitats, and a few oak savannas.
Birds
There are nine priority bird species in this natural division (see sidebar),
including one each of the shortgrass species, species requiring woody
vegetation or nest structures, and species requiring open water, two
of the tallgrass species, three of the midgrass species, and one species
requiring large areas from the statewide list (see Table
5).
- Shortgrass species.
- Upland sandpiper reaches high densities in parts of this division,
including southern Door County and in some counties along Lake Michigan,
where hay and small grains are common.
- Midgrass species.
- Savannah sparrow, bobolink, and eastern meadowlark are common in
pastures and hayfields throughout.
- Tallgrass species.
- Yellow rail is found mainly in the sedge meadows on the western
shore of Green Bay, where it was historically abundant (Le Conte's
sparrow historically occurred there and may still). Sedge wrens occur
throughout the division.
- Species requiring woody vegetation or nest structures.
- Brewer's blackbird is most common in the northern part of this division.
(This division especially Door county, was formerly a stronghold for
loggerhead shrike, but restoration potential is uncertain because
the area is now isolated from other breeding populations.)
- Species requiring open water.
- Wilson's phalarope is locally distributed in suitable habitat throughout,
for example in the Peshtigo Harbor Unit of Green Bay Shores Wildlife
Area (82).
- Species requiring large areas.
- Barn owls have used grassland habitats for foraging and nesting
in several counties bordering Lake Michigan (Matteson and Petersen
1988).
Habitats, Landscapes, and Sites
Much former forest land has been converted to agriculture, especially
in the southern and eastern parts of the division. The Lake Michigan
Shoreland division is one of the prime areas for growing small grains
and hay, especially alfalfa, in the state. There are roughly 4,500 acres
of permanent grassland habitat in blocks greater than 100 acres in the
Lake Michigan Shoreland—the lowest amount of any division. Two-thirds
of this acreage is wet grass or sedge meadows.
Priority habitats, landscapes, and sites for grassland management
in the Lake Michigan Shoreland are listed next to Figure
12. This formerly forested division probably has fewer opportunities
for grassland bird management than any other division. Green Bay West
Shores Sedge Meadows Landscape (S), the sedge meadows on the west shore
of Green Bay, offers the best opportunity in the division for management
of sedge meadow birds, including yellow rail.
The agricultural grasslands in Door County such as Brussels Area Grasslands
(II) and Liberty Grove Grasslands (HH) offer opportunities for management
of upland sandpiper and associated species—for example, by promoting
pasture, late-cut grass hay or mixed grass and legume hay, small grains,
and idle shortgrass and midgrass habitats. Any grassland management
activities at the Liberty Grove Grasslands (GG) in the northern Door
peninsula, however, will require careful coordination with efforts to
preserve important northern forest and wetland communities immediately
to the north (e.g., the Mink River corridor); grasslands may be of secondary
importance there.
Areas in the counties along Lake Michigan south of Door County also
have similar grassland management opportunities, because of the current
lack of forest cover and the character of the agricultural landscapes.
An example is the open, wetland-dotted agricultural landscape north
of Two Rivers in Manitowoc County (Two Rivers and Two Creeks townships).
As in Door County, forest management and restoration issues need to
be evaluated along with any proposed grassland management at sites such
as this. For example, remnant forest at Point Beach State Forest and
State Park may benefit from expansion of forest acreage; grassland management
activities adjacent to the forest may therefore be determined to be
inappropriate or of low priority.
 |
 |
| This northern sedge meadow near Peshtigo Harbor
is part of the Green Bay West Shore Sedge Meadows landscape, the
only priority landscape in the Lake Michigan Shoreland Natural Division.
This habitat type was historically much more extensive throughout
the landscape than it is today. |
|
|
|
|
|
Sedge wren |
| Figure 12. Priority landscapes
and sites for grassland bird management in the Lake Michigan Shoreland
Natural Division. |
| Landscape and Site Names1 |
|
Habitat Types (see below
for 4-letter codes) |
|
| S. Green Bay West Shore Sedge
Meadows |
|
NSME, SSME, SSMA, SHSW2 |
| Sites: 81. |
Oconto Marsh-Reed Lake Unit; Green Bay Shores Wildlife
Area (WA) |
NSME, NSMA, SHSW |
| 82. |
Peshtigo Harbor Unit (Green Bay Shores WA) |
NSME, SHSW, SSMA |
| |
| HH. Liberty
Grove Grasslands |
|
GLHA, SMGR, DROF, UPSH |
| |
| II. Brussels Area Grasslands |
|
GLHA, SMGR, PAST, DROF |
| |
| Other
Sites Located Outside of Landscapes: |
| 79. |
Collins Marsh WA |
|
IWSG, ICSG, OASA, SHSW, SSME, WEOF |
| 80. |
Navarino WA |
NSME, IWSG, ICSG, DROF, SHSW, UPSH, SWOF, OPBO,
OASA |
|
1 Landscapes are ranked from
highest priority to lowest priority. Sites are not ranked
within landscapes. Four-letter codes represent priority habitat
types that are present in the sites and landscapes.
2 Codes listed after landscape names refer
to habitats common or present within the landscape, in areas other
than the numbered sites. |
Priority Grassland Habitats
for Management in the Lake Michigan Shoreland 1
(ranked by priority)
| NSME |
Northern sedge meadow:
(S) Green Bay West Shore Sedge Meadows Landscape, (80) Navarino
WA, (81) Oconto Marsh-Reed Lake Unit, (82) Peshtigo Harbor Unit |
| |
| PAST |
Pasture:
(II) Brussels Area Grasslands Landscape, and on agricultural lands
throughout the division |
| |
| SSME |
Southern sedge meadow:
(S) Green Bay West Shore Sedge Meadows Landscape, (79) Collins Marsh
WA |
| |
| IWSG |
Idle warm season grass/forb (medium and tall):
(80) Navarino WA, (79) Collins Marsh WA |
| |
| ICSG |
Idle cool season grass/forb (short, medium, and tall):
(80) Navarino WA, (79) Collins Marsh WA |
| |
| DROF |
Dry old field:
(HH) Liberty Grove Grasslands Landscape, (80) Navarino WA, (II)
Brussels Area Grasslands Landscape |
| |
| GLHA |
Grass or grass/legume hay:
(HH) Liberty Grove Grasslands Landscape, (II) Brussels Area Grasslands
Landscape; elsewhere in counties along Lake Michigan |
| |
| NSMA |
Northern sedge marsh:
(81) Oconto Marsh-Reed Lake Unit |
| |
| SSMA |
Southern sedge marsh:
(82) Peshtigo Harbor Unit, (S) Green Bay West Shore Sedge Meadows
Landscape |
| |
| UPSH |
Upland shrub:
(HH) Liberty Grove Grasslands Landscape, (80) Navarino WA |
| |
| WEOF |
Wet old field:
(79) Collins Marsh WA |
| |
| SMGR |
Small grains:
(HH) Liberty Grove Grasslands Landscape, (II) Brussels Area Grasslands
Landscape |
| |
| OPBO |
Open bog:
(80) Navarino WA |
| |
| SHSW |
Shrub swamp:
(81) Oconto Marsh-Reed Lake Unit, (82) Peshtigo Harbor Unit, (S)
Green Bay West Shore Sedge Meadows Landscape, (79) Collins Marsh
WA, (80) Navarino WA |
| |
| OASA |
Oak savanna:
(79) Collins Marsh WA, (80) Navarino WA |
| |
| SWOF |
Shrubby wet old field:
(80) Navarino WA |
1 Habitats are ranked by priority within
the division. Each habitat is followed by suggested landscapes and sites
for management, arranged roughly from highest to lowest priority. Landscape
letter codes and site number codes in parentheses correspond to the map.
See Table 1 and Appendix E
for descriptions of bird communities expected in the habitats listed.
|
