Plants

White Manderin

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore provides regionally diverse and unique plant communities. This is due primarily because it lies in the tension zone between the boreal and temperate forests. Thus, the islands and their forests comprise an ecosystem that is unique in North America.

In pre-settlement times about 90% of the islands were covered by an upland mixed coniferous/hardwood forest dominated by hemlock, white pine, sugar maple, yellow and white birch. The boreal forest community was dominated by white spruce, balsam fir, tamarack, white cedar, birch, and aspen.

Most of the islands have a history of logging, however some islands were not commercially logged (North Twin, Devils, Raspberry, Long, and Eagle) and others retain old growth forest remnants (e.g, Outer, Bear).

 

Yew on York Island

Over 800 plant species occur within the lakeshore, including Wisconsin State listed endangered, threatened, and special concern species. Following logging, deer populations irrupted on many of the islands, severely impacting species favored by deer, such as Canada yew. Some islands had moderate-high deer densities, while others did not have a history of deer populations. Today, islands without a history of high deer densities support lush stands of Canada yew, a very rare species on the mainland mainly due to deer browse. Currently, deer populations occur on only a few islands.

Wetlands within the lakeshore include bogs associated with sandscapes, perched bogs, lagoons, alder thickets and beaver flowages. These wetlands contain unique flora and fauna and add a considerable amount of ecological diversity to the lakeshore. Bogs dominated by sedges, wetland shrubs and sphagnum mosses often occur in the filled-in lake basins that are located just inland from sandscape dune ridges. The larger bogs on Michigan, Outer, and Stockton Islands have lagoons with floating and submersed aquatic species. Bogs found on poorly-drained summit plateaus are often smaller and have poorer bog floras than their coastal, sandscape counterparts.

About one-third of the Islands coasts consist of Precambian sandstone ledges and bluffs. Local vegetation on these rock faces depend on the microhabitat and can vary from common willows and weed species, to subarctic rarities and species with calcareous tendencies. Steep reddish clay bluffs are vegetated with small trees of balsam poplar, white birch, red maple and showy mountain ash.

The lakeshore has a rich assemblage of dunal features. Dunal vegetation, beach grass and beach pea, as well as a shrub and forest component of speckled alder, quaking aspen and white birch dominate these sandscapes.

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

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Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

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Species attribute definitions

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