Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Releases final wilderness study and EIS

(Note: The number of comments from out-of-state residents was almost 2,500 of 3,500 received, and wilderness was sold to the public with 'careful drawing' of boundaries so that recreationists will be appeased ... for now. Such boundaries can, do and will expand to swallow recreation, in time, because that is the way The Wildlands Project is implemented, piecemeal, over time.)

April 13, 2004

The County Journal
 
P.O. Box 637

Bayfield, Wisconsin - After three years, dozens of meetings and nearly 10,000 public comments, the National Park Service (NPS) is releasing the Final Wilderness Study and Environmental Impact Statement for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Alternative C remains the study's preferred alternative.

If implemented by Congress, approximately 80 percent of the park’s land base would be designated as wilderness.

All of the Lake Superior waters within the park will remain outside of wilderness.

The purpose of the wilderness study has been to determine which areas, if any, of the 21-island park are suitable for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

This system includes parts of Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Denali and many other well-known national parks.

If Congress were to designate wilderness at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the area would remain a unit of the National Park System, and since most of the park is already managed as wilderness, most visitors would notice very little change, if any.

“What we heard from the public last summer was very consistent with what we have been hearing all along,” said Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Superintendent Bob Krumenaker. “A very large majority continues to think that wilderness designation would be a great idea for most parts of the park.”

More than 3,500 comments were received on a draft version of the study released last summer. All but 20 of these comments were supportive of one of the wilderness alternatives, which proposed anywhere from 55 percent to 94 percent of the park’s land base as wilderness.

“More than 1,000 of those comments came from residents of Wisconsin,” Krumenaker said. “With only 20 comments opposing wilderness, it’s impossible to view the results from last summer as anything other than extraordinarily strong support, whether we look at the results from a local, regional, or national viewpoint.”

Park staff went to great lengths to engage the public in crafting the study’s recommendations. “We listened to everyone, particularly those who expressed anxiety about wilderness,” Krumenaker said. “The end result is a proposal that directly addresses the most frequently voiced concerns.”

Chief among those concerns was a fear that wilderness designation would result in a ban on motor boats within the park.

By carefully drawing the boundaries of all wilderness alternatives so that none of them included any of the waters of Lake Superior, park staff were able to ensure that motorized access to the park would remain virtually unchanged, regardless of what alternative the study recommended, and regardless of future water levels.

Visitors will still be able to use the park’s public docks, anchor off the islands and beach their boats, just as they do today.

Many people also expressed a concern that wilderness designation would result in the removal of facilities that accommodate visitors to the park.

This was also prevented with some careful drawing of potential wilderness boundaries.

All of the park’s public docks, lighthouses and visitor centers were kept outside of the wilderness boundaries for all of the alternatives.

“We feel the end result will be a preservation of the way the park looks and feels right now,” Krumenaker said. “I can’t tell you how many times a visitor told me the park was wonderful right now, and that I shouldn’t change a thing. At first, many of them thought that wilderness meant change. Once they looked into the issue a bit closer, they agreed with us that wilderness is the best way to keep things the same. Better than anything else, wilderness with carefully drawn boundaries can ensure future generations of the same park experience that our generation treasures today. We’re grateful for the thousands of citizens that shared their ideas and helped us craft a thoughtful proposal.”

Ultimately the question of whether or not wilderness will be designated in the park is up to the United States Congress.

Until that decision is made, the National Park Service will manage the park in a manner consistent with the study’s recommendations, as required by agency policy.

Copies of the Final Wilderness Study and Environmental Impact Statement can be obtained at the park’s headquarters in Bayfield, or by contacting the park’s chief of planning and resource management, Jim Nepstad, at 715-779-3398, ext. 102. APIS_Webmaster@nps.gov

Copies can also be downloaded from the study’s website at www.nps.gov/apis/wstudy.htm

Copyright 2004 MurphyMcGinnis Media.

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