National Bill Proposes to Develop Apostle Islands into National Park

A bill introduced by U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany seeks to convert the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore into a national park. This would ban hunting on all but one of the islands.

Hunting and trapping are allowed on most of Lake Superior’s 21 islands and 12 miles of shoreline on the Bayfield Peninsula. But the bill introduced last week by the Republican representative from northwestern Wisconsin would explicitly ban hunting if the area were to become a national park.

Unlike national lakes and other lands managed by the National Park Service, hunting is rarely allowed in national parks. Instead, the bill would remove Sand Island from its national lakes designation and designate it as Sand Island National Preserve instead of including it in the proposed national park. Therefore, hunting would be allowed on the approximately 3,000-acre island.

The fishing industry will not be affected by the bill.

“The Apostle Islands are one of Wisconsin’s true crown jewels and deserve to be recognized as the state’s first national park,” Tiffany said in a July 24 news release. “This prestigious designation would not only strengthen conservation efforts, stimulate the local economy and create new jobs, but would also ensure continued environmental and economic security for our region for generations to come.”

Two issues

Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service, testified at a July 24 hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Federal Lands that the bill was not filed in time for the department to take a position.

Lands said there are two issues that need to be addressed. The first is to clarify the relationship between the proposed Apostle Islands National Park and Sand Island National Preserve.

The other, Lands said, “is the need to strengthen the treaty rights of the Ojibwe tribes. A portion of Lakeshore is within the (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) tribal reservation and the remaining lands are areas ceded by treaty to the reservations for hunting, trapping and gathering.”

Charlie Rasmussen, spokesman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, said the Ojibwe tribes are closely monitoring the proposal.

“The Apostle Islands are an important hunting and fishing area for Ojibwe tribes,” Rasmussen said. “Any action that could infringe on treaty rights and harvests is a concern.”

The Red Cliff Band did not respond to request for comment.

Designation of riparian area selected to allow hunting

Tia Nelson is the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin Democrat who founded the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in 1970 and Earth Day. Nelson said her father spent years talking to people in and around the Apostle Islands, and that hunting access was one reason it became a national lakeshore instead of a national park.

“That surprised me, given Tiffany’s longstanding commitment to public access for hunting,” Nelson said of the proposal. “This will clearly disenfranchise sportsmen.”

Caroline Briscoe, a spokesperson for Tiffany’s office, said only three deer have been hunted on the Apostle Islands between 2015 and 2022 and that existing treaty rights remain in place.

Concerns about tourism

Sen. Romaine Quinn, Republican of Rice Lake, whose district includes Bayfield and the Apostle Islands, said a national park would be good for the area.

“Increased tourism will create new jobs, stimulate economic growth and support the livelihoods of many in the Bayfield area and beyond,” Quinn testified during the subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.

But Bayfield County Board of Supervisors member Madelaine Rekemeyer says the area certainly has no shortage of more tourists.

“I am not against economic development,” Rekemeyer said. “We will increase tourism based on current economic development in a model that currently has many unintended consequences.”

For example, Rekemeyer said there is a housing shortage, partly because there are more short-term rentals for tourists, and workers in the area cannot find a place to live.

Several Bayfield tourism and chamber of commerce officials voiced their concerns in an article on Wisconsin Public Radio on Thursday.

There is still much to learn, Rekemeyer said. After all, the board was only informed of the proposal last week, she said.

“Everyone agrees that this just happened to us,” Rekemeyer said. “Listening to the hearing in Washington, D.C. yesterday, it seems like the conversation is continuing, and we’re grateful for that.”

U.S. Congressman Pete Stauber, a Republican from Hermantown who represents Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, and the other four members of Wisconsin’s delegation to the House of Representatives co-sponsored the bill.