Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

It will be easier getting onto Basswood Island in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in the not-too-distant future, as crews are going to be rebuilding the island's dock.

For the third year running, a spectacular shot of the Milky Way over Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has been snared photographically and reproduced in a beautiful print you can buy. All proceeds are earmarked for Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

No word yet if there's an app for it, but if you have a computer you can quickly check on the wave heights at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore if you're planning a paddling trip there.

It's been nearly 225 years since Congress called for lighthouses "beacons, buoys and public piers" to be built for the safety of the public and seafarers. You can celebrate that occasion, which fell August 7, 1789, by visiting one of the many lighthouses across the National Park System.

With summer officially getting under way tomorrow, more and more folks will be heading out to the national parks for some summer fun. Just be sure to be careful out there so you don't find yourself added to a search-and-rescue report as these folks were.

After more than six years of work, community input, and public review, officials at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have released the final version of their general management plan for the next 15-20 years.

Wisconsin's Apostle Islands National Lakeshore features picturesque islands, historic light stations, sandstone cliffs, sea caves, pristine beaches, old-growth forest, and abundant wildlife.

No one place in the country harbors the rich diversity in lighthouses as that which resides at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on the shores of Lake Superior. But preserving those historic buildings is neither easy nor inexpensive, but it is something the Park Service would like to do.

You have to like, and applaud, a national park friends group that supplies toilet paper to outhouses. But that's just one of the tasks the Friends of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore takes on in its support of the lakeshore.

A fall through the ice into cold winter waters is a frightening and life-threatening emergency, and in an attempt to reduce those risks, Apostle National Lakeshore recently offered "ice awareness" and ice rescue training for the park staff and other area agencies.

A second starry night photograph from Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has surfaced, and the park's friends group is selling prints to raise money to reinvest in the lakeshore.

A visitor to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore provided a different twist on the expression, "A miss is as good as a mile" when he fell over a 35-foot cliff into the very chilly waters of Lake Superior. In his case, quick thinking and fast reflexes allowed him to miss the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, but his wet landing meant his troubles were far from over.

Paddling along a sandy shore, watching ripples of sand and light beneath the kayak, I could imagine for a moment I was in the tropics, not here in northern Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior. As we glided along, channels between islands opened and closed; new islands appeared.

Avian botulism has been a problem at some units of the National Park System located along the Great Lakes. Biologists working to better understand the spread of the disease are turning to loons to help with their research.

Call it a loo, a latrine, an outhouse, vault toilet or privy, but when you're out hiking or paddling a national park's backcountry and you have to answer the call of nature, it's awful nice not to have to squat over a cathole.

When was the last time you heard an 1850s yarn put to song? If you're in the neighborhood of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on Monday, you'll be able to hear what it sounds like. Or, if you're curious about Lake Superior's shipwrecks, you can bone up on them at the lakeshore as well.

Another national park arch has collapsed. Not one of the famous ones at Arches National Park, but rather one of the icons at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Twenty-one units of the National Park System, including five national seashores and four national lakeshores, have been nominated for status as "Marine Protected Areas."

While rising sea levels are a concern for some national parks, dropping lake levels are a concern for others. A unique partnership between NASA and the National Park Service examines these issues in two podcasts for your listening ease.

There was a news event earlier this week that seemed to sail under the radar, but it's something to keep an eye on. A large coalition of groups has come together to lobby for the waters that flow through Everglades National Park, the parks and lakeshores that dot the Great Lakes and touch the Chesapeake Bay, as well as many other watery ecosystems across the country.

Across the country there are dozens of "friends groups" that help national parks in myriad ways. Just recently the Yellowstone Park Foundation announced a drive to buy bear-proof lockers for front-country campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park. At Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the friends group actually provides the TP!

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is sometimes described as the "Holy Grail" for lighthouse buffs. Nowhere else in the country can you find such a wide variety of lighthouses in such a compact area. The area's annual Lighthouse Celebration is underway with special tours through September 12.

Perhaps one of the least publicly intriguing issues when you're talking about national parks is that of the general management plans used to guide a park's growth and use. But when these documents come up for revision, the opportunity is ripe for you to have your two cents considered. For instance, should the lighthouses at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore be turned into bed-and-breakfasts?

Change is under way in the Great Lakes, the source of 84 percent of North America’s fresh water and more than 20 percent of the world’s supply. It is a progressive sweeping change that threatens to greatly transform the ecosystems of these inland seas by warming their waters and supplanting native species with harmful invasives. And it is a change that ultimately may threaten the viability of the common loon and dozens of other birds that depend on the lakes.

National Lighthouse Day is being observed around the country on August 7, and there are some excellent examples of those beacons in NPS areas. Some parks will host special events this weekend; one of them is more often associated with a famous battle than a lighthouse.

A historic lighthouse had a role in one of three recent rescues at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, and quick work by the park staff averted several potential tragedies.

Sure, it's summertime, and the weather is hot, but there's talk of winter at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore next week.