Accessibility Articles

Our Work – Articles about how we are working to make the park accessible.

Adventure Healing: Can an Apostle Islands adventure be a part of recovery?

Adventure Healing: Can an Apostle Islands adventure be a part of recovery?

Clinical psychologist and Access for All Advisory Board member Dr. Daniel Skenderian thinks so.As a psychologist working in a physical rehabilitation hospital in Southern California for the past few decades, I’ve seen the dramatic effects physical injuries and catastrophic illnesses can have on one’s sense of self, family, and activities of daily living. Traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, stroke, cancer, multiple sclerosis, orthopedic injuries, amputations, along with their emotional impact on lives makes coping with these disabilities extremely difficult. Sometimes removing the...

An accessible dream: kayaking the Apostle Islands

An accessible dream: kayaking the Apostle Islands

Janet Badura is a traveler, an adventurer, a birdwatcher. She is also someone with a progressive disorder who requires a power wheelchair. For years, Janet had a dream: to kayak the Apostle Islands sea caves. “As a person with a progressive disability, and a power wheelchair user,” she says, “joining a kayak trip, was not without some hesitation or concern.” But through Wilderness Inquiry, a partner in our Access for All initiative whose mission is to offer outdoor adventures to all, regardless of ability and background, she finally got the chance.Then she saw the 45 steps leading down to...

Giving Tuesday 2022 – Access for All

Giving Tuesday 2022 – Access for All

Tracy Tabaka looks out at the blue horizons of Lake Superior. There, just beyond the Meyers Beach parking area lie the green jewels of the wild Apostle Islands and the famous sea caves. She smiles, thinking of the freedom she will feel with a paddle in her hand, the wind in her face. She has been dreaming of this for years. But that smile fades as she looks down at the barrier before her – 45 steps tumbling down a 23-foot bank to the kayak launching area below – and then at her wheelchair. “When I pick up a paddle,” Tabaka says, “I am no more disabled than anyone else. The only real...

Together we are stronger: Access for All Advisory Committee formed

Together we are stronger: Access for All Advisory Committee formed

The Access for All Advisory Committee brings together like-minded people who are committed to improving access to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for people of all abilities. We appreciate the expertise, enthusiasm and connections these committee members bring to this largest-ever fundraising and awareness campaign in the 20 year history of Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  Honorary ChairpersonGreg Lais, Founder and former Executive Director of Wilderness Inquiry Committee Chair for FriendsErica Peterson, Friends Board chair emeritus Committee MembersKelley...

Together we are stronger: Access for All Advisory Committee formed

Friends receives Memorial Medical Center donation for Access for All

Study after study has proven the myriad of health benefits from time spent outdoors. Yet, access to wild places is often a barrier to the very people who need those benefits the most. To aid in efforts to make one such wild place, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, more accessible, Memorial Medical Center in Ashland, Wisconsin recently announced a generous donation to Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for its “Access for All” initiative."We are happy to support the efforts of organizations that provide access to outside spaces that benefit individuals of all...

Access for All: accessing my dream

Access for All: accessing my dream

Guest column by Cheryl Schiltz, Author of Silencing the Noise of Disability My childhood was filled with dreams come true. I walked barefoot with soft green grass under my feet. I watched golden leaves float from their branches dropping a spicey fragrance to the ground. I walked through tall grass with tips of feathery whisps tickling my arms. I would lay down and look to the sky filled with cotton clouds discovering animals, flowers, a mighty mountain range, a face, all floating above me. I walked into lakes feeling its cool water turning off the heat of the day. I was filled with joy as...

Access for All testimonials: Join the cause

Access for All testimonials: Join the cause

Read why donors, including 100% of the board of directors of Friends, support this major effort to make the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore accessible to people of all abilities. The goal is to raise $325,000 to fund an accessible ramp at Meyers Beach and to support the many other accessibility initiatives in the park.Read more about the Access for All initiative here. Or donate now. Thanks in advance for your investment in making the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore accessible for all.

Friends launches new website focused on discovery and accessibility

Friends launches new website focused on discovery and accessibility

As part of our mission to inspire more people to fall in love with and help us support and protect the park, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore launched a new website. The new friendsoftheapostleislands.org offers stunning visuals, a new way to discover the park before your next adventure and new tools designed to make the site more accessible to people of all abilities. "The new website showcases the rugged beauty of the islands in a way that touches your heart," said Executive Director Jeff Rennicke. "From there, our goal is to help everyone learn about this wonderful place...

52 candles – celebrating Founders Day in the Apostle Islands

52 candles – celebrating Founders Day in the Apostle Islands

September 26th marks 52 years for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and kicks off a new commitment for FriendsIt was September 26, 1970. After years of meetings, negotiations, revisions, and debate, there finally came these words: “for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public … there is hereby established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.” With those words, Public Law 91-424 officially established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, a place that preserves beauty, adventure, and offers reconnection to nature. The twenty-one islands and...

Website Accessibility Tools

Website Accessibility Tools

At Friends of the Apostle Islands, we are committed to making your experience of our website as positive and enjoyable as possible. Watch this 2-minute video to learn about some of the options we have added to our website.With Your HelpTo be a part of the solution, join the Access For All campaign by making a donation now, or by contacting us: P.O. Box 1574, Bayfield, WI 54814 | (715) 449-6900 Basswood Island - Accessible features, camping, dock, hiking, popular Bear Island - Camping Cat Island - Camping Devils Island - Camping, dock, hiking, lighthouse, popular Eagle Island - No amenities...