Isle Royale National Park

Geography

Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior, is over 45 miles (72 km) in length and 9 miles (14 km) wide at its widest point. The park is made up of Isle Royale itself and approximately 400 smaller islands, along with any submerged lands within 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of the surrounding islands (16USC408g).

Prehistoric

In older times, large quantities of copper were mined on Isle Royale and the nearby Keweenaw Peninsula by the indigenous peoples. The region is scarred by ancient mine pits and trenches up to 20 feet (6.1 m) deep. Carbon-14 testing of wood remains found in sockets of copper artifacts indicates that they are at least 5700 years old.

In Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region, published in 1961, Drier and Du Temple estimated that over 1.5 billion pounds (630,400 t) of copper had been mined from the region. However, David Johnson and Susan Martin contend that their estimate was based on exaggerated and inaccurate assumptions.

19th & 20th centuries

In the mid-1840s, a report by Douglass Houghton, Michigan's first state geologist, set off a copper boom in the state, and the first modern copper mines were opened on the island. Evidence of the earlier mining efforts was everywhere, in the form of many stone hammers, some copper artifacts, and places where copper had been partially worked out of the rock but left in place. The ancient pits and trenches led to the discovery of many of the copper deposits that were mined in the 19th century.

The island was once the site of a resort community. The fishing industry has declined considerably, but continues at Edisen Fishery. Because numerous small islands surround Isle Royale, ships were once guided through the area by lighthouses at Passage Island, Rock Harbor, Rock of Ages, and Isle Royale Lighthouse on Menagerie Island.

Within the waters of Isle Royale National Park are several shipwrecks. The area’s notoriously harsh weather, dramatic underwater topography, the island’s central location on historic shipping routes, and the cold, fresh water have resulted in largely intact, well preserved wrecks throughout the park. These were documented in the 1980s, with follow up occurring in 2009, by the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center.

Flora

The predominant floral habitats of Isle Royale are within the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province. The area is a Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome transition zone between the true boreal forest to the north and Big Woods to the south, with characteristics of each. It has areas of both broadleaf and conifer forest cover, and bodies of water ranging from conifer bogs to swamps.

Conifers can include: Jack pines (Pinus banksiana); Black and White spruces (Picea mariana and Picea glauca); Balsam firs (Abies balsamea), and EasternRed junipers (Juniperus virginiana).

Deciduous trees can include: Quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides), Red oaks (Quercus rubra), Paper birches (Betula papyrifera), American mountain ash (Sorbus americana), and Red maples (Acer rubrum), Sugar maples (Acer saccharum), and Mountain maples (Acer spicatum).

Fauna

Isle Royale National Park is known for its wolf and moose populations which are studied by scientists investigating predator-prey relationships in a closed environment. This is made easier because Isle Royale has been colonized by roughly just one third of the mainland mammal species, because it is so remote. In addition, the environment is unique in that it is the only known place where wolves and moose coexist without the presence of bears.

Historically neither moose nor wolves inhabited Isle Royale. Just prior to becoming a national park the large mammals on Isle Royale were Canadian Lynx and the Boreal woodland caribou. Archeological evidence indicates both of these species were present on Isle Royale for 3,500 years prior to being removed by direct human actions (hunting, trapping, mining, logging, fires, competition for resources from exotic species and possibly disease due to the introduction of invasive species). The last Boreal woodland caribou documented on Isle Royale was in 1925. Though Canadian Lynx were removed by the 1930s some have periodically crossed the ice bridge from neighboring Ontario Canada. The most recent being an individual sighing in 1980. Though Lynx are no longer present on the island, their primary prey snowshoe hares remain. Before the appearance of wolves coyotes were also a predator on the island. Coyotes appeared around 1905 and disappeared shortly after wolves arrived in the 1950s.

Moose are believed to have colonized Isle Royale sometime between 1905 and 1912. It was initially believed that a small herd of moose (moose typically do not travel in herds) colonized the islands by crossing the ice from the adjacent mainland, later this theory was modified to a herd of moose swimming 20 miles across Lake Superior from the nearest mainland. The improbability of these theories received little scrutiny until recent years. Although no thorough scientific investigation to determine how moose arrived on Isle Royale has been carried out to date, both cultural and genetic evidence indicates they were likely introduced by humans to create a private hunting preserve in the early 1900's. The cultural evidence that moose were trapped in northwestern Minnesota and transported to Isle Royale sounded far fetched to many until decades later when genetic evidence revealed the moose on Isle Royale were more closely related to moose in the far northwestern Minnesota/Mannitoba border area then the mainland adjacent to Isle Royale in far northeastern Minnesota bordering Ontario. Further evidence has also shown that the [Washington Harbor Club], a group of well-to-do businessmen, owned various buildings on Isle Royale in addition to railroads that ran from Baudette to Duluth and Two Harbors and so had the means to transport moose from northwestern Minnesota to Two Harbors.

https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/nature/index.htm http://www.georgewright.org/303cochrane.pdf

There are usually around 25 wolves and 1000 moose on the island, but the numbers change greatly year to year. In the 2006-2007 winter, 385 moose were counted, as well as 21 wolves, in three packs. In spring 2008, 23 wolves and approximately 650 moose were counted. Due to genetic inbreeding, wolf populations have declined to only 2 in 2016, and the wolves will not survive.

However, in December 2016, the National Park Service (NPS) put forward a plan in which they would add 20 to 30 wolves to the island in order to prevent the pack from disappearing completely.

Geology

Bedrock on Isle Royale is basalt or sandstone and conglomerates on the 1.1 billion year old Midcontinent Rift. Most of the island is covered with a thin layer of glacial material. A number of small native copper mines were active in the 1800s but mining was never really prosperous. Recent analyses by the USGS of both unmineralized basalt and copper-mineralized rock show that a small amount of naturally occurring mercury is associated with mineralization.

Isle Royale greenstone (chlorastrolite, a form of pumpellyite) is found here, as well as on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is the official Michigan state gemstone.

Recreation

The Greenstone Ridge is a high ridge in the center of the island and carries the longest trail in the park, the Greenstone Ridge Trail, which runs 40 miles (64 km) from one end of the island to the other. This is generally done as a 4 or 5 day hike. A boat shuttle can carry hikers back to their starting port. In total there are 165 miles (266 km) of hiking trails. There are also canoe/kayak routes, many involving portages, along coastal bays and inland lakes.

Services

The park has two developed areas:

Windigo, at the southwest end of the island (docking site for the ferries from Minnesota), with a campstore, showers, campsites, rustic camper cabins for those wanting to sleep off of the ground and a boat dock.

Rock Harbor on the south side of the northeast end (docking site for the ferries from Michigan), with a campstore, showers, restaurant, lodge, campsites, and a boat dock. Non-camping sleeping accommodations at the park are limited to the lodge at Rock Harbor and the camper cabins at Windigo.

Camping

The park has 36 designated wilderness campgrounds. Some campgrounds in the interior are accessible only by trail or by canoe/kayak on the island lakes. Others campgrounds are accessible only by private boat. The campsites vary in capacity but typically include a few three-sided wood shelters (the fourth wall is screened) with floors and roofs, and several individual sites suitable for pitching a small tent. Some tent sites with space for groups of up to 10 are available, and are used for overflow if all the individual sites are filled.

The only amenities at the campgrounds are pit toilets, picnic tables, and fire-rings at specific areas. Campfires are not permitted at most campgrounds; gas or alcohol camp stoves are recommended. Drinking and cooking water must be drawn from local water sources (Lake Superior and inland lakes) and filtered, treated, or boiled to avoid parasites. Hunting is not permitted, but fishing is, and edible berries (blueberries, thimbleberries) may be picked from the trail.

Access

The park is accessible by ferries, floatplanes, and passenger ships during the summer months — from Houghton and Copper Harbor in Michigan; and Grand Portage in Minnesota. Private boats travel to the island from the coasts of Michigan, Minnesota, and Ontario. Isle Royale is quite popular with day-trippers in private boats, and day-trip ferry service is provided from Copper Harbor and Grand Portage to and from the park.

Isle Royale is the only U. S. National Park to entirely close in the winter months, from November 1 through April 15, due to extreme weather conditions and for the safety and protection of visitors. The average annual visitation was fewer than 17,000 in the period from 2007 to 2016; however, the park experienced record attendance of 24,966 in 2016. Still, Isle Royale remains the least visited national park in the contiguous United States, due to the winter closing and the distance across Lake Superior to reach the park. Only three of the most remote Alaskan national parks—Lake Clark, Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic—receive fewer visitors.

Ships

Scheduled ferry service operates from Grand Portage, Copper Harbor and Houghton.

The Grand Portage ferries reach the island in 1 1/2 hours, and stay 4 hours at the island, allowing time for hiking, a guided hike or program by the park staff, and picnics.

The Isle Royale Queen serves park visitors out of Copper Harbor, on the northern Upper Peninsula coast of Michigan. It arrives at Rock Harbor in the park in 3 to 3 1/2 hours, spends 3 1/2 hours before returning to Copper Harbor.

The Sea Hunter operates round-trips and offers day trips to the Windigo visitor center through much of the season, and less frequently in early summer and autumn; it will transport kayaks and canoes for visitors wanting to explore the park from the water. It is the fastest ferry serving the island and arrives in 1 1/2 hours, including some sightseeing points along the way out and back. Because of the relatively short boat ride, day visitors are able to get four hours on the island, and get back to the mainland earlier in the afternoon. This gives visitors on a tight schedule time to visit the Grand Portage National Monument or other attractions in the same day.

The Ranger III is a 165-foot (50 m) ship that serves park visitors from Houghton, Michigan to Rock Harbor. It is operated by the National Park Service, and is said to be the largest piece of equipment in the National Park system. It carries 125 passengers, along with canoes, kayaks, and even small powerboats. It is a six-hour voyage from Houghton to the park. The ship stays overnight at Rock Harbor before returning the next day, making two round trips each week from June to mid-September. Briefly in the 2008 season, the Ranger III carried visitors to and from Windigo. This was not continued after four trips, due to low interest and long crossing times. In 2012, Park Superintendent Phyllis Green required the Ranger III to purify its ballast water.

The Voyageur II, out of Grand Portage, crosses up to three times a week, overnighting at Rock Harbor and providing transportation between popular lakeside campgrounds. In the fall season, in addition to carrying campers and hikers, it provides day-trip service to Windigo on weekends. The Voyageur transports kayaks and canoes for visitors wanting to explore the island from the water. The Voyageur II and other boat taxi services ferry hikers to points along the island, allowing a one-way hike back to Rock Harbor or Windigo. Visitors may land at Rock Harbor and depart from Windigo several days later, or vice versa. Hikers frequently ride it in one direction to do a cross-island hike. and then get picked up at the other end.