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Amie Heeter
Isle Royale's Project Heavy Lift
A helicopter picks up a load from a staging area at McCargoe Cove.
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Amie Heeter
Isle Royale's Project Heavy Lift
A helicopter departs for a remote drop zone on Isle Royale.
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Amie Heeter
Isle Royale's Project Heavy Lift
Trail crews unload the building materials at a drop zone.
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Amie Heeter
Isle Royale's Project Heavy Lift
Many boardwalks and bridges on Isle Royale need repairs.
Isle Royale airlift operation begins
What’s the best way to transport 64 tons of building materials across one of the most remote U.S. national parks in the system?
A helicopter, Isle Royale officials decided in a rare move for the park.
Project Heavy Lift is the park’s first helicopter mission in 12 years. Its task is to carry planks, logs and crossties to drop zones across the island, some of them otherwise only accessible by long hikes, so that trail crews can rebuild neglected boardwalks and bridges. Due to tightened budgets, Isle Royale has about $2.5 million in overdue maintenance for its 165 miles of trails; this project will trim it by $300,000.
The boardwalks and bridges allow visitors to traverse swamps, bogs and streams without disturbing these sensitive wetlands.
“Deploying the work crews to remote drop zones required a complicated coordination of boats rides and miles of hiking,” park spokeswoman Liz Valencia said in a news release. “The Isle Royale National Park trail crew, who hail from Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, was aided by a volunteer conservation work crew from Wisconsin (WisCorps) and U.S. Forest Service helicopter crews from four national forests and three states. They are working in teams at 30 drop sites scattered across the park.”
Planning for the project began more than two years ago, when officials started identifying drop zones near the future work sites and ferrying construction materials to the island.
Follow the progress of Project Heavy Lift and this summer’s trail work on the park’s Facebook page.
Canadian prime minister sports Thunder Bay brewery’s T-shirt
Justin Trudeau generated lots of buzz for Sleeping Giant Brewing Company when he was photographed wearing their Northern Logger shirt on Father’s Day. Owner Matt Pearson has decided to turn the attention into support for the community. For the next two weeks, he’s donating all proceeds from T-shirt sales to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Thunder Bay, reports TBNewsWatch, which has a photo of the PM in his T.
U.S. Mint
Apostle Islands coin
The proposed design for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore coin.
Special-edition quarters to feature three of our parks
The 2018 lineup of America the Beautiful quarters includes Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park. Coin World has a peek at the proposed designs for each park.
Those designs were supported by the Commission of Fine Arts this month. Next, they go to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
“Wildlife in your viewfinder”: Four of our photographer pals on Minnesota’s North Shore talked with WTIP’s Jay Andersen about wildlife photography, how they got started and how you can take great photos, too.
Sammy’s Pizza returns to Superior: The beloved regional pizza chain will open Sammy’s on Tower next month, writes Maria Lockwood in the Superior Telegram.
Good news for the Sault: “By water and by rail, tourism numbers in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario are up, says a local tourism authority,” reports Kenneth Armstrong of SooToday.
Thunder Bay to host Finnish Canadian Grand Festival this weekend: Held in a different Canadian city each year, the festival celebrates Finnish culture with music, dance, games and events like the boot toss and wife carrying contest. CBC Thunder Bay has a preview.
Former NFL head coach pledges to Marquette’s Beacon House: Steve Mariucci, who grew up in Iron Mountain, Michigan, and went on to coach the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers, will donate $150,000 to support the new hospitality house for families of hospital patients, WJMN-TV reports.