Community Outreach Articles

Our Work – Articles about Friends’ community outreach initiatives.

Friends Executive Directors attend National Park Friends Alliance Fall Meeting

Friends Executive Directors attend National Park Friends Alliance Fall Meeting

Bands of elk are not the only ones to gather in Estes Park, Colorado this autumn. The gateway city to Rocky Mountains National Park was also the site of the 2026 fall conference of the National Park Friends Alliance hosted by the Rocky Mountain Conservancy September 22nd - 24th.Rocky Mountains National Park - Jeff Rennicke photoElk bugling in the river - Jeff Rennicke photoCars lined up at park entrance - Jeff Rennicke photoThe annual conference brought together 390 National Park partners and National Park Service staff to discuss a wide range of topics from the park housing crisis to...

Annual Friends cruise celebrates Apostle Islands and people who love this special place

Annual Friends cruise celebrates Apostle Islands and people who love this special place

When you're among Friends, visiting one of the Apostle Islands becomes even more meaningful. Dozens of supporters of Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore boarded the Superior Princess on a breezy, sunny August day. During the annual Friends cruise, they enjoyed good food, good company and the unmatched beauty of islands. They heard an update on the Meyers Beach accessible path project, the largest Friends initiative to date. And they also received an invitation to continue their support. Not only for today, but for future generations.Welcome Aboard! Click to enlarge photosGuests...

Meyers Beach accessibility project under way

Meyers Beach accessibility project under way

With a turn of the shovel, the long-awaited Meyers Beach accessible path project has begun. A partnership between the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation, and Friends of the Apostle Islands, the $690,000 project will replace the 47-step stairway down a 23-foot sand bank with an accessible 3% grade pathway leading to one of the most popular beaches and kayak launching sites in the Islands and the starting point for viewing the famous Ice Caves in the winter.“The units of our national park system belong to all of us,” says Jeff Rennicke, Executive Director of Friends of the...

Community Cider tasting event benefiting Friends of the Apostle Islands draws a crowd

Community Cider tasting event benefiting Friends of the Apostle Islands draws a crowd

"It's a really special thing. 
It's not just a cider, as wonderful as it is. It's really, first of all, a taste of the Lake Superior region. There are the breezes that blow off the lake and through the islands, that touch the apples and pears and infiltrate into the cider that Phil creates. 
And even more so than that, it's a taste of community." With those words, Friends of the Apostle Islands Executive Director Jeff Rennicke kicked off the Community Cider tasting event at the Bayfield Winery on Saturday, June 6th.Community Cider artwork by Erica Peterson - Norm Okerstrom photoThe tasting...

Sip and Support Friends of the Apostle Islands at the Community Cider tasting event June 6

Sip and Support Friends of the Apostle Islands at the Community Cider tasting event June 6

Sip & Support! Join Friends of the Apostle Islands, Saturday June 6th from 12-2 p.m. at the Bayfield Winery and Blue Ox Cider for a tasting of the 2026 Community Cider. Thanks to Blue Ox for chosing Friends of the Apostle Islands as this year's recipient, Erica Peterson for designing the logo, and all the community members who helped pick apples and pears. This Community Cider is a very balanced, semi-dry cider made from all donated fruit. The proceeds from bottle sales and glass pours will be going directly to Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. There will be...

Friends volunteers tend Gaylord Nelson Memorial Garden, first of many gardening opportunities

Friends volunteers tend Gaylord Nelson Memorial Garden, first of many gardening opportunities

Prairie Alumroot - Jon Okerstrom photoThe first green shoots emerge from the warming earth as spring arrives in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Outside of park headquarters in Bayfield and on the grounds of iconic island lighthouses, the gardens will grow, with help from green-thumbed Friends of the Apostle Islands volunteers.A team of five volunteers recently worked in the Gaylord Nelson Memorial Garden, clearing away last year's plant debris, pulling weeds, placing signs identifying the plants and refreshing the wood chips covering the paths. The project organizer says the garden...

Stronger Together: Friends of the Apostle Islands staff travels to Washington D.C.

Stronger Together: Friends of the Apostle Islands staff travels to Washington D.C.

We are stronger together. The powerful truth in that statement was evident April 29th as Jeff and Jill Rennicke, Friends Executive Director and Associate Director, joined the leaders of 89 other national park partner organizations in Washington D.C. as part of the National Park Foundation Hill Day, an annual opportunity for park advocates to meet with legislators and discuss the policies that impact our national parks and the people who care for them. “We came together from every corner of the nation to speak with one voice,” Jeff Rennicke said, “take care of our national parks.” Group...

Friends Earth Day event draws dozens of volunteers, lakeshore lovers to Bayfield

Friends Earth Day event draws dozens of volunteers, lakeshore lovers to Bayfield

What's your memory of your first Earth Day, whether you were a college student or you were merely a figment of your future parents' imagination on April 22, 1970? Friends Executive Director Jeff Rennicke asked the audience step back in time as he recounted the history of Earth Day and it's everlasting connection to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.That connection is Wisconsin Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson, a man inspired by the environmentally disastrous Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 to change the world through environmental education and action. The next year, Earth Day was...

Silent night, starry night: Photographer Travis Novitsky on the Lake Superior night sky

Silent night, starry night: Photographer Travis Novitsky on the Lake Superior night sky

“Oftentimes the most notable quality of the night is the silence,” photographer Travis Novitsky told the crowd at a recent program in Bayfield. “To hear that silence you need to push everything out of your mind and let yourself truly be in that moment. That's why I like the night sky so much. It's the easiest way I can quiet my mind and just be there in the present. When I'm gazing up at the sky, especially on such a quiet night, I feel utterly and completely relaxed and refreshed.”Spirit Tree under the Milky Way - Travis Novitsky photoTravis Novitsky’s program, a part of our Dark Sky Star...

How smart lighting choices can protect our precious night sky, save energy and money – a Dark Sky Star Bright Festival event

How smart lighting choices can protect our precious night sky, save energy and money – a Dark Sky Star Bright Festival event

The Dark Sky Star Bright Festival celebrates our precious night sky, and as the crowd gathered at the Honest Dog Books event space on Tuesday learned, it's more than that. Friends of the Apostle Islands Executive Director Jeff Rennicke put it this way. "We also wanted to make sure that when people got inspired and learned about the sky, they could take that next step. And the next step is okay, what can I do about it? In my home. In my business. In my community. How do I help, one lightbulb at a time?" To answer that question, outdoor lighting expert, Electrical Engineer and Dark Sky...