Residents sound off on making Apostle Islands National Lakeshore a national park

Congressman Tom Tiffany wants to make the Apostle Island National Lakeshore Wisconsin’s first national park, but not everyone in the Bay Area is on board.

Several people spoke out against the proposal Thursday during a Bayfield County Executive Committee meeting, concerned about what would happen to the Bay Area if it comes to fruition.

Tiffany, R-7th District, has said the Bay Area would see increased tourism, bringing with it enhanced economic growth, more visitation and expanded job opportunities. Becoming a national park would also ensure a significant increase in funding from state and federal governments aimed at enhancing conservation efforts, educational programs and community development to support the park, according to the information provided. Hunting access would also be maintained, Tiffany claimed, as a section of the area would be set aside as a hunting preserve.

While that all sounds good, Bay Area resident Jerry Aerts, who moved to the area from Utah, warned, “Don’t do it.”

“I built a new home right next to Mt. Zion. Noise, congestion, pollution, litter. That’s what you’re going to bring to Bayfield County,” he said.

Residents were also skeptical and said tourism in the area is doing just fine, questioned whether treaty rights would be effected, asked how the fishing industry would be impacted and expressed concerns about Sand Island becoming a preserve as part of the proposed change.

Tiffany did not attend the meeting, but his outreach director Jim Miller was on hand to address concerns. He said hunting would not be allowed on the national park, but would be allowed on Sand Island since it would become a preserve. Furthermore, fishing regulations and treaty rights would remain the same.

Miller, who is a Hayward city council member, questioned why more tourism would be a bad thing for Bayfield County, saying he has several letters of support from various economic development agencies and chambers of commerce.

“There’s been a lot of money spent advertising this area because of economic development. They don’t believe that we’ve reached capacity and we need to grow,” he said.

With the exception of Legendary Waters Resort & Casino in Red Cliff, there has not been a hotel constructed in Bayfield County in more than 30 years, he said.

Bayfield County has so many AirBnBs, causing a big issue with short term rentals, said board member Madelaine Rekemeyer in response. That’s why the area doesn’t have many hotels, she added.

There’s already enough tourism, Rekemeyer said.

“Give us the Birkie. Let’s have the Birkie come over to Bayfield County so that we get all the riches. You guys really think we need tourism, that would be a good trade instead of making it a national park,” she said. The American Birkebeiner, or Brikie for short, is the largest cross-country ski race in North America.

Other than on Fridays and Saturdays, it’s feast or famine for a lot of businesses, Miller said in response.

“It’s hard for them to make it. So to say we’re full and there’s too many tourists, that’s our economy up here. We have a tourism economy,” he said.

Board member Marty Milanowski agreed, saying “we could never have enough tourism up here.”

“With the bad winter we had last winter, you have to start thinking ahead of the game. We might have winters like this for another five or six years. It’s good to see something different come up here. I would rather see growth and not just sit around,” he said.

Ultimately, though, it’s hard to predict what the economic impact would actually be exactly, Miller said.

That uncertainty of what’s going to happen to the area doesn’t sit well, Rekemeyer said.

“We can’t risk this. This is our livelihood,” she said. “There’s kind of a division as well here. You’re talking about economic development and tourism, we’re talking about the riches of the natural resources and how that adds to people’s well-being and their health.”

No action was taken on the matter, but Rekemeyer wondered what is the rush to get this passed.

“There seems to be this big rush. Can’t people just study this so we don’t have all this risk?” She asked. “This is a big issue here.”

There isn’t a rush; it will have to go through several rounds of approval including the House of Representatives and the Senate, Miller said.