WASHINGTON — There are 21 islands in the western end of Lake Superior, just offshore from Wisconsin.
“They have an incredibly interesting and important history of use and inhabitants from Indigenous people through the fur trade, logging, fishing, farming,” said Jim Feldman, a professor of history and environmental studies at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
In 1970, the Apostle Islands were designated as a national lakeshore. Now, Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minoqua, wants to upgrade that status to national park.
“It'd be Wisconsin's first national park,” Tiffany said. “And if there's a place that is worthy of being a national park in Wisconsin, it's the Apostle Islands.”
Feldman, who has written a book about the Apostle Islands, said designating the islands a national park could provide more protection to them.
“The most significant distinction is that national lakeshores and recreation areas were created, really, for recreation,” Feldman said. “National parks have a slightly different mandate and a different mission that has to do with protection and preservation, as well as recreation.
"But the national lakeshores were created really to respond to a crisis that seemed to be brewing in the 1950s and ‘60s that there was this surge in interest and outdoor recreation, and not enough public lands to meet that need, especially east of the Mississippi, near big cities, near places like Chicago and Minneapolis. And so a lot of the national lakeshores were created to sort of respond to that need, and they had this recreation mandate more than a preservation or a history mandate. The distinctions are pretty minor," Feldman continued.
Tiffany, who is chairman of the House subcommittee on federal lands, said the move would create more opportunities for jobs and tourism.
He also said the legislation will honor the history of the Ojibwe people, who are the original inhabitants of the islands.
The National Park Service said it needs more clarity on their treaty rights, especially as it pertains to hunting. Typically, hunting is allowed in national lakeshores but not in national parks.
“Part of the lakeshore is within the tribal reservation and the remaining land areas are within the territory ceded by the treaty with reservations to hunt, trap and gather. We would be happy to work with you on these issues,” Frank Lands, the deputy director of operations for the National Park Service, said at a committee hearing last week.
Tiffany said protecting hunting access is paramount. He has consulted both the Bad River and Red Cliff Bands of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Representatives of the tribes could not be reached for comment.
“Those groups were included in some of the initial proposals to create the park in the 1960s,” Feldman explained. “But eventually pulled their support from the park and withdrew as many of their lands as they could, because they were worried about the ability of the federal government to protect their treaty-guaranteed rights to hunt and fish in those lands. And so this proposal is touching a deep historical nerve.”
Nerves Tiffany hopes to quell with an amendment to the bill that would reaffirm that treaty rights would not be changed by the national park designation.
He said there’s broad support, citing 21 letters from northern Wisconsin communities.
“This will be a win for the people in my state and the country at large, as more folks get to enjoy the crown jewels of Wisconsin,” Tiffany said.
There are 63 national parks. New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia is the newest one, added in 2020.