Bay Shore Blufflands

Why This Place is Special

We are in our third decade of ecological restoration planning and implementation, land stewardship, citizen science, and conservation master planning. To date, over 2,600 hours of field work from Landscapes of Place - plus the tremendous stewardship work of others, for years!

Current floristic quality assessment: n = 301, FQI = 95.5 (updated 2023). Still counting, and still pressing specimens for our herbarium.

“...To me, [Bay Shore Blufflands] represents hope at a time when critical wildlife habitat and scenic open space is being lost at an unprecedented rate... Land preservation success stories are more important now than ever before and the Blufflands will forever serve as a model for how passionate people can make a lasting difference.”

— Dan Burke, "A Place of Hope", The Nature of Door, Edited by Norbert Blei and Karen Yancey, Cross+Roads Press, Copyright Door County Land Trust 2006

“Several groups have recognized the Bay Shore Blufflands (Carlsville Bluff) as a significant natural habitat in the last 20 years. In 1976, the Door County Natural Heritage Program ranked the area as an important scenic wetland and forest resource area. In this study the forest was ranked 5th among 15 Door County areas... In 1977, the Wisconsin Coastal Atlas rated the area as high quality wildlife habitat. In 1981, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife conducted inventory of the Great Lakes coastal wetlands identified and classified the forested wetlands of this site. In 1988, Dr. Jim Zimmerman in his natural features inventory of Door County concluded the Carlsville forest, escarpment, and terraced wetlands were deserving of WDNR Natural Area status.”

— A Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat and Natural Areas of Door County, WI, March 2003; produced through the collective efforts of federal, state and local government agencies, local conservation organizations and citizen advocates

Some of the species we have observed and recorded at Bay Shore Blufflands:

PROJECT UPDATES

Conservation Master Plan for Bay Shore Blufflands State Natural Area

Wisconsin Coastal Management Grant 2013-2014

Read the Plan summary booklet (pdf or printed) or view online.

Download plan documents: Conservation Master Plan (10 Mb), Research Findings (15 Mb), Resources (7 Mb).

Bay Shore Blufflands Conservation Master Plan Process poster (3.8M), Midwest-Great Lakes SER Conference, April 2014, for Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. And flyer for Lake Michigan Day Conference, August 2014.