United States National Lakeshore
A National Lakeshore is a protected area of lakeshore in the United States. National Lakeshores are similar to U.S. National Parks in that they are maintained and protected by the U.S. National Park Service. Currently, there are four National Lakeshore[1] areas in the United States, all of them on lakes Michigan and Superior. The total area of the four shorelines is 145,641 acres (589.3 km²).[1] These areas are located in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
National lakeshores
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, near Munising, Michigan, on Lake Superior. Authorized in 1966, Pictured Rocks was the first National Lakeshore and largest by area.
- Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in northwest Indiana, near Michigan City, on Lake Michigan. Authorized in 1966, soon after Pictured Rocks. By most estimates, this park is the most popular National Lakeshore, probably due to its proximity to Chicago and other large Midwestern cities.
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, in northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior. Authorized in September 1970.
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in Leelanau County Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Authorized in October 1970.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles (67 km) along the shore and covers 73,236 acres (114 sq mi/296 km2). The park offers spectacular scenery of the hilly shoreline between Munising, Michigan and Grand Marais, Michigan, with natural archways, waterfalls, and sand dunes.
Pictured Rocks derives its name from the 15 miles (24 km) of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. The cliffs are up to 200 feet (60 m) above lake level. They have been naturally sculptured into shallow caves, arches, formations that resemble castle turrets, and human profiles, among others. Near Munising visitors also can view Grand Island, most of which is included in the Grand Island National Recreation Area and is preserved separately.
The U.S. Congress made Pictured Rocks the first officially-designated National Lakeshore in the United States in 1966. It is governed by the National Park Service (NPS), had 22 year-round NPS employees as of May 2006, and received 476,888 visitors in 2005.
History
Although the Pictured Rocks lie adjacent to sections of Lake Superior that are rich in fish, the sandstone cliffs are dangerous to canoes and other open boats skirting the coastline. Pierre Esprit Radisson, the fur trader, made this risky passage in 1658 and noted that his Native American companions offered some tobacco to the local spirit of the cliffs.
During the Romantic Era of the 1800s, a series of American writers described their feelings upon sight of the Pictured Rocks. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft paid a tribute in 1820 to "some of the most sublime and commanding views in nature." As long ago as 1850 developers platted a tourist resort, Grand Island City, adjacent to the Pictured Rocks near the current site of Munising.
After the lumbering era ended around 1910, many of the parcels of land making up the current Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore reverted to the state of Michigan for unpaid property taxes. Eager for federal help and recognition, the state cooperated with the federal government in the region's redevelopment. Congress enacted a law in 1966 to elevate the shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais to the status of a National Lakeshore.[2]
In October 1966, Congress passed a bill authorizing the establishment of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, “... in order to preserve for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public, a significant portion of the diminishing shoreline of the United States and its related geographic and scientific features.” When President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill, Alger County became the home of America’s first National Lakeshore.
Grand Sable Dunes
The Grand Sable Dunes, at the eastern end of the Lakeshore, are a perched dune formation. Sand washed ashore by wave action was then blown upslope by northerly prevailing winds until it came to rest atop a glacial moraine. The Grand Sable Dunes today form a sand slope that rises from Lake Superior at a 35° angle. The summits of the tallest dunes are as high as 275 feet (85 m) above lake level.
Photo Gallery
Munising Falls
Looking down at the Miners' Castle. November 2004.
Miners' Castle.
Pictured Rocks in the distance.
Miners Falls
Miners Falls
Grand Sable Dunes
Grand Sable Dunes
Sable Falls
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore consisting of 22 islands (Apostle Islands) and shoreline encompassing 69,372 acres (281 km²) on the northern tip of Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior. It is known for its collection of historic lighthouses (called "the nation's finest"), sandstone sea caves, a few old growth remnant forests, and natural animal habitats among many other things.
Introduction
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore located on the top of Wisconsin’s Peninsula in Lake Superior the “largest, cleanest, and coldest of the Great Lakes.” [3] The lakeshore, surrounded by beaches, cliffs and water, provide twenty one islands of entertainment, for Minnesotans, Wisconsinites, and other seasoned visitors.
History
The Apostle Islands are a result of the glaciers that once covered North America. “Geologically they are originally part of the main land at the edge of the great riff or fault which formed the depression to which the waters of Lake Superior collected.” [4] When the glaciers melted there was a lot of water left over that begin to shape the islands. Over time, the waves from the waters of Lake Superior caused erosion that formed the islands. The reason the islands are composed of mostly red sand stone, is due to the glacial shift. It is widely assumed that Indian’s were the first to inhabit the island. “There is some evidence that they were seen and possibly visited sometime in the fourteenth century by Indian’s who were making their way to Isle Royale near the north shore of the land in search of copper.” [4] Not long after, a French explorer by the name of Etinne Brule who like many French Canadian’s was trying to discover a new way to the East Indies. "The French are believed to have named the islands 'Apostle' meaning 12, because they believed in the practice of giving names of religious significance to Geographic locations."[5] It is said that fur traders were the first explorers to settle. A village was built from the money that the fur traders brought in.
United States Senator Gaylord Nelson sponsored the federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.[6][7]
Lighthouses
For most of the century, the Apostle Islands Lighthouses have guided ships and boats through the rough waters of Lake Superior, and through the Apostle Islands.
Sand Island lighthouse has been thought to be the most beautiful light house to visit. This lighthouse is approximately 44 feet (13 m) tall and was one of the first lighthouses to be lit in 1921. Provided by the volunteers of the national park service, boats tour this island June through late August every year. Some of the other lighthouses to visit are: Michigan Island, LaPointe Light on Long Island, and Outer Island Lighthouse.
- Apostles sandisland.jpg
Sand Island Sea Caves
Some of the Squaw Bay Sea Caves, on the mainland near Cornucopia, Wisconsin.
- ApostleIslandNationalLakeshoreWI-033-050507.jpg
Hokenson Fishery, a part of the Little Sand Bay Visitor Center on the mainland
- ApostleIslandNationalLakeshoreWI-029-050507.jpg
A sandy beach at the Little Sand Bay Visitor Center
The headquarters of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, in Bayfield, Wisconsin. The building is made out of stone quarried from the Apostle Islands before they were turned into a national park.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau County and Benzie County. The park covers a 35 mile (60 km) stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou Islands. The park was established primarily for its outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena. The Lakeshore also contains many cultural features including the 1871 South Manitou Island Lighthouse, three former Life-Saving Service/Coast Guard Stations and an extensive rural historic farm district. The park was authorized on October 21, 1970.
The park is named after a Chippewa legend of the sleeping bear. According to the legend, an enormous forest fire on the western shore of Lake Michigan drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter, determined to reach the opposite shore. After many miles of swimming, the two cubs lagged behind. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited on the top of a high bluff. The exhausted cubs drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would finally appear. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou Island) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The "bear" was a small tree-covered knoll at the top edge of the bluff that, from the water, had the appearance of a sleeping bear. Wind and erosion have caused the "bear" to be greatly reduced in size over the years. Today only a small remnant remains.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wright, John W. (ed.) and Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The New York Times Almanac, 2007, New York, New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.
- ↑ The Pictured Rocks: An Administrative History of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Table of Contents)
- ↑ Wisconsin's Apostle Islands. NSP. 4 Feb. 2008 <www.wilderness.org>
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ross, Hamilton N. The Apostle Islands. 2nd ed. Batavia, NY: Batavia Herald, 1951.
- ↑ Culture and History. 18 Oct. 2007. NSP. 3 Feb. 2008 <www.nps.org/apis>.
- ↑ http://www.wilderness.org/AboutUs/Nelson_Bio.cfm
- ↑ http://www.nps.gov/apis/parkmgmt/wilderness.htm
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- National Park Service. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- National Park Service. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- National Park Service. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- National Park Service. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
