Foundation Document Overview Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wisconsin
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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wisconsin Contact Information For more information about the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or (715) 779-3397 or write to: Superintendent, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, 415 Washington Avenue, Bayfield, WI 54814 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Apostle Islands National Lakeshore resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. • The Apostle Islands archipelago contains scientifically important geologic features, including a highly diverse and stunningly beautiful array of coastal landforms that retain a high degree of ecological integrity. • Shaped and isolated by Lake Superior and located where northern hardwoods and boreal forests meet, the islands of the park sustain rare communities, habitats, and species of plants and animals. Some of these communities are remnants of ancient forests, providing a rare glimpse into the past. • The Apostle Islands are the traditional home of the Ojibwe people and integral to their culture. They have used the natural resources of the Apostle Islands area for centuries to sustain their way of life, and continue to do so today. The purpose of APOSTLE ISLANDS NATIONAL LAKESHORE, as identified in the 2011 • The isolation and remoteness of the archipelago has General Management Plan, is to: preserved an unparalleled variety of historic and archeological resources reflecting human response to the 1. Conserve and protect the outstanding Great Lakes maritime environment. collection of scenic, scientific, • The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has the largest and biological, geological, historical, finest collection of lighthouses in the country. archeological, cultural, and wilderness features and values of • Despite hundreds of years of human occupation and use, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. the Apostle Islands and Lake Superior remain among the wildest places in the Great Lakes, where the unbridled 2. Provide opportunities for the benefit, forces of nature prevail. inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of Apostle • The rare combination of remote but accessible scenery, Islands National Lakeshore. geography, and both open and protected waters affords unparalleled freshwater sailing, boating, sea kayaking and 3. Secure the benefits of an enduring fishing opportunities. resource of wilderness in Apostle • The “island experience” of the Apostle Islands, which Islands National Lakeshore’s includes quiet, relative solitude, and clear night skies, Gaylord Nelson Wilderness for continues to provide, as it has for generations, a present and future generations. recreational and rejuvenating experience for people seeking relief from the stresses of their everyday lives. Fundamental Resources and Values Interpretive Themes Fundamental resources and values are those features, Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories systems, processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, or concepts that visitors should understand after visiting smells, or other attributes determined to merit primary a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts consideration during planning and management processes communicated to visitors about a park unit. Themes because they are essential to achieving the purpose of the are derived from—and should reflect—park purpose, significance, resources, and values. The set of interpretive park and maintaining its significance. themes is complete when it provides the structure necessary • Coastal Features and Processes for park staff to develop opportunities for visitors to explore and relate to all of the park significances and fundamental • Natural Environment resources and values. • Ethnographic Resources • Lake Superior has long served as a highway of commerce connecting the Apostle Islands region to the global • Historical and Archeological Resources economy, thereby transforming the landscape and its people. • Light Stations and Cultural Landscapes • The stories of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore reveal • Stories and Collections themselves along edges where water meets sky, field meets forest, culture meets culture, and past meets future. • Wilderness Values • After being altered by centuries of human use, the lakeshore is reverting to its prior wilderness state. • Recreational Opportunities • Apostle Islands has long attracted visitors to Lake • The “Island Experience” Superior’s shore to enjoy world-class opportunities for a variety of recreational experiences. • Apostle Islands’ protected plant and animal communities serve as indicators to help measure the health of local and global ecosystems. • Lake Superior defines the Apostle Islands, shapes its ecosystems, and sustains life throughout the area. • Dynamic and uncontrollable, Lake Superior is a force to be encountered on its own terms. Description Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, near the tip of the Bayfield and the largest collection of national register lighthouses Peninsula in northern Wisconsin, includes 21 islands in Lake and lighthouse complexes in the national park system. Superior and a 12-mile-long narrow strip of mainland shoreline. People have used the islands for thousands of years. The park is located in Bayfield and Ashland Counties, within the During the historic period, people constructed ancestral homeland of the Ojibwe people. Established by an act of residences and started farms, fishing operations, Congress (Public Law 91-424) on September 26, 1970, the purpose brownstone quarries, and logging camps on the islands. of the park is “to conserve and develop for the benefit, inspiration, Several of these historic sites are listed in the National education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public” the Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service islands and their related geographic, scenic, and scientific values. and the US Coast Guard transitioned the Ashland Apostle Islands National Lakeshore encompasses 69,372 acres, of Harbor Breakwater Light to NPS control after this which 27,323 acres are submerged lands in Lake Superior; the park was added to the park in the 2015 National Defense boundary extends a quarter-mile from the shore of the mainland Authorization Act. and from each island. Eighty percent of the Devils Island North Twin land area of the park was Island Rocky Island designated as wilderness Outer Island in December 2004 and South Twin Bear Island Island named the Gaylord Cat A P O S T L E Island Otter Ironwood Nelson Wilderness. The Lighthouse Island Island Bay islands range in size York I S L A N D S Island from 3-acre Gull Island Sand Raspberry Island Point Island Manitou Detour Overlook Island to 10,054-acre Stockton Little Sand Bay Visitor Center Manitou Fish Camp Summer only Hokenson Fishery Eagle Island Sand Point Kayak launch Raspberry Island. The islands are Bay Stockton Island Raspberry Little Point Sand Oak Julian spread out over a portion Bay d Bay Stockton Island Visitor Center Lakeshore Island LIFF INIAN r LIFF Trail ive Frog Summer only SVAIN R Brownstone Presque Sea Old Coun Bay quarry Quarry of Lake Superior nearly t Isle Bay y Caves Bay Gull Island H INIAN wy K ry Frog Bay Tribal er Presque Isle b National Park p Point 290,000 acres in size—an s SVAIN a Meyers Beach 13 R Red Cliff Kayak launch Point Hermit r r Island Michigan ive C area larger than Rocky R Brownstone Island f quarry f i l l C e d n Mountain National n n Basswood a Red S a Island h Bad iver BAYFIELD C McCloud-Brigham Farm ALIN Indian ornucopia ed liff Park or Mount Rainier eservation ISLAN PENINSULA l e National Park. S t n i s n s k Brownstone a i e h w Visitor Center 13 quarry C i t W Park Headquarters h Big Bay (old courthouse building) r t Bayfield o Town ark A variety of scenic C R N i v e Big Bay r s cruises, BI BAY ike Cree boat rentals, P k C SATE features can be found a and island H r camper shuttle PA f e r r y on the islands, including Pikes Bay La ointe H Chebomnicon Madeline Island Bay examples of some of Historical Museum the earliest and latest events of geologic South Channel r LAKE ve Long Island history in the lower 48 Ri states. The park features SUPERIOR x AN- C u io Houghton pristine stretches of S Point NIL Chequamegon Point Chequamegon sand beaches and coves; NAINAL Bay spectacular sea caves; FS Washburn 13 Oak Point Vandeventer some of the largest Bay Ashland stands of remnant old- arbor BA I Breakwater Light INIAN SVAIN growth forests in the North Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge danah 0 5 1 ilometers upper Midwest; 0 5 1 iles B r a Marble e d Northern Great Lakes iv Point a diverse population Visitor Center R Trail Lighthouse arina Ashland River WISNSIN rail Oronto IIAN r T Lake Superior within ock (symbol anger station Boat launch o 2 Apostle Islands not to scale) of birds, mammals, ty R d e Bay un e i it o cr rr ek r h National Lakeshore C e o re M i- a C C W r tio C Apostle Islands icnic area Backcountry campsite(s), T n o h 13 R