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Special Fee To Tour Ice Caves At Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Covers Park's Expenses...And Then Some

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Visitation to "ice caves" at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore generated more than $135,000 in funds for the park this past winter/NPS file photo

A year after going deep in the hole to manage visitation to unusual "ice caves" with their dripping formations, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore came out ahead this past winter thanks to a special fee charged visitors.

While the park collected about $140,000 in user fees this winter as crowds turned out to tour the unique caves with their ice formations, it only spent about $95,000 on managing the visitors. After a small percentage was sent to the National Park Service's Washington headquarters, Apostle Islands was able to invest about $21,000 towards future ice cave tour expenses. Projects to be funded with the surplus range from a heated trailer that can be used as a "snobulance" for injured visitors to a 42-foot bridge that will span a ravine and make it safer for visitors to explore the ice caves in the future.

In 2014, the polar vortex that froze Lake Superior solid and enabled the ice caves to form brought 138,000 visitors to the caves over an eight-and-a-half week season, an unanticipated season that cost the Park Service about $450,000 to manage the crowds. That cost far outstripped the park'™s budget, and led to the decision to implement a $5 per person fee (for visitors 16 and older) for future ice cave visits.

This past winter's season was much shorter -- nine days -- but still attracted 37,800 visitors. With the new fee in place, the park collected approximately $140,000 in revenue. A small percentage of all park fee revenue is shared with the NPS national office to administer the program. That left $134,700 for the park'™s use locally.

Not including the salary cost of year-round staff who worked the ice caves, the NPS spent approximately $95,000 on this past winter's ice cave event. Those funds paid the costs of temporary hires; overtime for some year-round staff; travel costs for rangers who came from other parks; rental and service of toilets; emergency rescue equipment, supplies, servicing, and fuel; fee envelopes and accounting; temporary signs; and landscape and stairway rehabilitation once the snow melted.

Approximately $21,000 has already been invested in preparation for future ice cave seasons, specifically on improved personal protective equipment for cold weather safety; printing of new fee envelopes; and a heated 'œsnowbulance' to better serve people needing rescue out on the ice, park officials said in a release. 

"We'™re not going to accumulate massive amounts of money, because we'™re going to spend it to support the ice cave operation and other visitor services," Superintendent Bob Krumenaker told the Traveler.

The remaining funds stay locally at the Apostle Islands and are combined with fee revenue the park brings in from overnight camping and docking, parking, and lighthouse tours. The surplus this year will allow the park to bring temporary staff on board to prepare for the next ice cave season prior to the actual opening date, and for other visitor services, with the priority going to the Meyers Beach area. 

Comments

Isn't it great that taxpayers are allowed the privilege of paying to see these wonders. I wish to personally thank the NPS for creating those ice caves.


Instead, they can just close it completely during the winter so no one can see it.

Or, they can sell it to a developer who puts in lights, hot tubs, a disco, and a restaurant and charges $50 for entry. Comes with a free commemorative glass so you can remember being there.


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