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Point Creek Natural Area County: Manitowoc
Lot size: 39 acres Established: 06/28/2002 |
Property story
In June 2002, Point Creek Natural Area became a part of the Manitowoc County Parks System with a conservation easement held by Glacial Lakes Conservancy. This 39-acre pine plantation was planted 55 years ago, has 2,800 feet of frontage with 40-60 foot bluffs on Lake Michigan and 1000 feet of frontage on Point Creek. Both public and private funds were raised, including grants from Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, and Coastal Management Fund for its purchase. University of Wisconsin students and faculty from Green Bay, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan use the natural area for study and research projects.
A reforestation project began in November 2003 when pine trees from the overgrown pine plantation were thinned to make room for an introduction of native species. The goal of returning the land back to mixed native species, including hardwood trees, will bring great benefits to wildlife, plant life, and water quality.
The Park is being actively managed to become One Ecological Unit with the mature 45-acre Northern Hardwood Forest on the south side of the creek, owned by University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
In the summer of 2018, Point Creek Natural Area was logged to thin the pines, remove most of the Ash, clear invasive brush, and create several openings to make way for planting native trees in the spring of 2019.
2,060 various species of trees have since been planted using a United States Forest Service (USFS) grant awarded to Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP). Tree species and their ratios to each other were selected to be congruent with the Old Growth and Mature Forests in the area. It is anticipated this selection of trees will bypass several hundred years of succession and speed the process of attaining a climax forest. In the future, there will be continued invasive control, pines will be thinned and replaced with plantings of native trees and vegetation that is present in a Mature Hardwood Forest. In 30 to 50 years planted trees will begin producing seeds and a canopy develops. The canopy’s shade controls all of what grows. It will shade out invasives, promote introduced ephemerals to thrive, and influence a second generation of trees that becomes a self-sustaining Hardwood Forest. This Forest will provide a natural habitat for wildlife and migrating birds along the Lake Michigan Flyway and be enjoyed by future generations.
A reforestation project began in November 2003 when pine trees from the overgrown pine plantation were thinned to make room for an introduction of native species. The goal of returning the land back to mixed native species, including hardwood trees, will bring great benefits to wildlife, plant life, and water quality.
The Park is being actively managed to become One Ecological Unit with the mature 45-acre Northern Hardwood Forest on the south side of the creek, owned by University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
In the summer of 2018, Point Creek Natural Area was logged to thin the pines, remove most of the Ash, clear invasive brush, and create several openings to make way for planting native trees in the spring of 2019.
2,060 various species of trees have since been planted using a United States Forest Service (USFS) grant awarded to Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP). Tree species and their ratios to each other were selected to be congruent with the Old Growth and Mature Forests in the area. It is anticipated this selection of trees will bypass several hundred years of succession and speed the process of attaining a climax forest. In the future, there will be continued invasive control, pines will be thinned and replaced with plantings of native trees and vegetation that is present in a Mature Hardwood Forest. In 30 to 50 years planted trees will begin producing seeds and a canopy develops. The canopy’s shade controls all of what grows. It will shade out invasives, promote introduced ephemerals to thrive, and influence a second generation of trees that becomes a self-sustaining Hardwood Forest. This Forest will provide a natural habitat for wildlife and migrating birds along the Lake Michigan Flyway and be enjoyed by future generations.
The above pictures depict the pine plantation at Point Creek Natural Area before the timber harvest (left), after the 2018 timber harvest (center), and after the 2019 tree planting (right).
