Stewardship Articles

Our Work – Articles about how we preserve history in the park and ensure other have access to all the park has to offer.

You’re invited! Friends Earth Day event set for Saturday, April 25th in Bayfield

You’re invited! Friends Earth Day event set for Saturday, April 25th in Bayfield

"Our Power, Our Planet" is the theme of Earth Day 2026 and it fits right in with Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore's focus on service and volunteerism to support the Lakeshore We Love.Earth Day is celebrated around the world on April 22nd, every year since Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the event in 1970. This year, Friends of the Apostle Islands invites you to join us for our special Earth Day event, at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 25th at the Carnegie Library in Bayfield.The Earth Day organization says this year's theme reflects the fundamental truth that...

Friends volunteers refresh Gaylord Nelson Memorial Garden for spring

Friends volunteers refresh Gaylord Nelson Memorial Garden for spring

Another sure sign of the spring: the Friends of the Apostle Islands volunteer gardeners hard at work on the Gaylord Nelson gardens at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The garden, established in 2006, serves as a living legacy to Wisconsin Senator and Governor Gaylord Nelson who helped inspire Earth Day in 1970 and in the same year led the effort to establish the Apostle Islands as a National Lakeshore. Friends volunteers spent several hours weeding and tending to the wildflowers. When you visit the garden outside of Lakeshore headquarters at 415 Washington Avenue in Bayfield,  you...

Business Member Spotlight: Port Superior Marina – Gateway to the Islands

Business Member Spotlight: Port Superior Marina – Gateway to the Islands

Tucked safely into a quiet bay just two miles south of Bayfield, Port Superior Marina with its more than 200 slips, is a prime gateway to the adventure, beauty, and history of the Apostle Islands. Recently, we sat down with Morgan Wright of the Port Superior Marina team to discuss their long-time commitment to safe boating, the islands, and their support of Friends of the Apostle Islands.Port Superior Marina from the airWhat is the mission of Port Superior Marina?Port Superior Marina's mission is to be the premier resort marina on Lake Superior by providing a quality boating experience to...

Wave Watch buoys are live! Watch the deployment video and learn how the buoys can help you stay safe on the water

Wave Watch buoys are live! Watch the deployment video and learn how the buoys can help you stay safe on the water

With light winds, sunshine and mild temperatures, deployment day was nearly perfect. On the morning of May 29th, a team loaded a National Park Service boat with buoys, anchor lines, hardware and high-visibility flags, then set out from Roy's Point for the north end of Long Island - the entrance to Chequamegon Bay. There, they deployed the first solar-powered spotter buoy for the 2024 season, as part of the Wave Watch boater safety project. Watch the video and read on for details.  Click to read video transcript (Adobe Acrobat PDF reader required)The Wave Watch buoy deployed at Long...

Celebrate the northern lights by giving back to the night sky

Celebrate the northern lights by giving back to the night sky

They were beautiful, one of the greatest aurora displays in decades with the sun sending at least five immense CME’s (coronal mass ejections) streaming towards the earth, creating a G5 Auroral Storm that made the northern lights visible to a wider swath of the world than we have seen in decades.Northern lights over the Apostle Islands - Jeff Rennicke photosThe sky danced. Not just over the Apostle Islands but as far south as Florida and Texas here in the U.S. and around the world. They shone over the battlefield in Ukraine. The sky glowed pink in Tyrol, Austria. Airline passengers looked out...

Know before you go: Get your free Wave Watch QR code cling for the upcoming boating season

Know before you go: Get your free Wave Watch QR code cling for the upcoming boating season

One scan of this new Wave Watch QR Code and you’ll be safer on the water this boating season. Friends of the Apostle Islands has partnered with researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the National Park Service to create Wave Watch, a series of strategically placed weather buoys offering boaters free, real-time wave data for five popular boating locations in the Apostle Islands starting in June of 2024. See the real-time data page here.Grab a FREE 4x4 inch sticker or cling for your boat window or water bottle or anywhere on your vessel. Scan the QR Code with your phone and...

Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastics in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastics in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

From the single-use water bottles, containers and bags you might carry into the park to microplastics detected in the lake water around the islands, plastics are having an impact on the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Doing something about our personal and global dependence on plastics is the global theme of Earth Day 2024.Earth Day is an annual event designed to promote the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day on April 22nd, 1970. On that day, an estimated 20 million people nationwide attended the inaugural...

Dark Sky Week: from the first lighthouse beacon to the starry skies of today and beyond

Dark Sky Week: from the first lighthouse beacon to the starry skies of today and beyond

Michigan Island Lighthouse - 1913 - NPS photoThe first brilliant beam pierced the ink black skies over the Apostle Islands like a lightning bolt. The year was 1856, when the first keeper lighted the lamp atop the original Michigan Island lighthouse for the first time. In the years that followed, keepers lit a constellation of new lights on Long, Raspberry, Outer, Sand, Devils and Michigan Islands.All of the light stations built in the late 1800s and early 1900s were designed to help mariners navigate their way around the Apostle Islands while avoiding dangerous shoals in the dark of night....

Treasures of the night: Friends to focus on protecting the night sky over the Apostle Islands in 2024 and beyond

Treasures of the night: Friends to focus on protecting the night sky over the Apostle Islands in 2024 and beyond

It begins with a faint glimmer, just a hint of brightness on the northern horizon, then builds, rising like an aria. Soon, the night sky is glowing green and red, dancing with light, shimmering like diamonds. The aurora is out. The northern lights are gleaming above the Apostle Islands. Aurora over Honeymoon Rock - Jeff Rennicke photo“To watch the white sail of a full moon gliding across the stars or see the brushstroke of the Milky Way or the flicker of northern lights painting the night sky is to witness one of true the wonders of the world, a gift of nature,” says Jeff Rennicke, Executive...

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...