What comes to mind when you hear Door County? Your first thoughts might be of wineries, quaint shops, and bluff overlooks. But you may not be aware that the peninsula also boasts a Wetland of International Importance. The Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands Ramsar Site is a 11,443-acre wetland complex that occupies a major section of the Lake Michigan shoreline in Door County. Stretching from Newport State Park southward to The Ridges Sanctuary, the site contains several regionally- and globally-significant wetland communities including Great Lakes ridge and swale, northern sedge meadow, calcareous fens, boreal rich fens, northern wet-mesic forest, and Great Lakes alkaline shoreline among others. The Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands Ramsar Site also houses fifteen plant species listed as threatened or endangered by the State of Wisconsin and three plant and animal species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Join Kari Hagenow to explore the “quiet side” of Door County. Learn what makes this site so special, the threats that these wetlands continue to face, and how you can be a good steward while visiting this beautiful and diverse place.
Kari Hagenow, The Nature Conservancy
Recorded October 23, 2020.
Kari Hagenow is the Land Steward for The Nature Conservancy’s Door Peninsula Project. While getting her master’s degree in Environmental Science from UW-Green Bay she was introduced to the world of birding and hasn’t looked back. When she’s not out chasing the latest spring migrants, she’s spending time at her home in De Pere, Wisconsin, with her husband, Tyler, and their Labrador-Boxer mix, Brewer, as they work to restore their own woodland.
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