Courtesy Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Raspberry Island Lighthouse
Fourth-grade students climb the steps to Raspberry Island Lighthouse in the Apostle Islands.
Foundation’s grant sends local kids on Apostle Islands field trip
Erica Peterson, president of the Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore group, sent us this report about a fourth-grade field trip that we don’t think the kids will ever forget.
A thick bank of clouds and fog surrounded us as the cruise boat plied its way out to Raspberry Island, in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. “Clouds afraid of height” was a comment from a fourth grader. Then the sun hit our patch of lake and the motors were cut to absorb a moment free-floating on the Big Lake. Multiple arms suddenly pointed in the same direction and about that time we heard the chug of engines. Out of the fog came a commercial fishing boat surrounded by wheeling gulls. The scene turned surreal when the nearly 60 aboard watched a bald eagle dip over the boat, capture a meal and disappear back into the fog.
The group on board was from Hurley Elementary School – before them, Washburn Elementary had gone, and after them Ashland’s Lake Superior Elementary School. All had experiences to write family and friends about on postcards. “Thank you for taking us on this amazing trip,” wrote two at the end of their poem written from a bluff above the Raspberry Island dock.
The children were “Giving a Voice to Water,” made possible with support from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s (NMSF) Hollings Grant and in celebration of the National Park Service’s centennial initiative to help fourth graders discover their national park. By spring of 2017 every fourth grader in the coastal communities of the Apostle Islands will have spent a day on the proposed national marine sanctuary and in the national park it surrounds.
Next spring the remaining schools of Bayfield, South Shore, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School will attend, for a total of seven schools.
A survey of the schools concurs that no fourth-grade class has ever visited an island in the national lakeshore. Only a few students raise their hands when asked who has been to an island other than Madeline. “Most of my students haven’t had these opportunities,” says Jodi Maddock, a fourth-grade teacher at Washburn Elementary.
The Friends group was able to apply for the funding because this area is being considered as a potential national marine sanctuary. The grant provides transportation costs for the schools including busing and the boat.
NMSF offered the grant in cooperation with the National Park Service’s national initiative to “Find Your Park” in this centennial year. Friends was one of 14 awardees (out of 127 applicants) to receive a National Marine Sanctuary Foundation grant for $12,521.
The Hollings grant targeted fourth graders because their minds are so open to ideas and most likely to connect to nature and history. That was so obvious with their curious questions about why the lake is so blue, how do we know what animals live on the islands and how did the islands get their names.
The Friends of the Apostle Islands worked in cooperation with the National Park Service and Apostle Islands Cruises to provide the program. They also heard from park rangers about why they choose to serve our national park system.
The children were encouraged to identify with the animals and humans that for hundreds of years have returned time and time again to this significant marine landscape. The children used their imaginations to draw pictures of several significant species found under the water in the proposed marine sanctuary. In addition to hearing about the area’s cultural roots, they learned about burbots, mysid shrimp and phytoplankton, all lesser-known species but still vital to the healthy fishery that makes this part of the lake so important to the rest of Lake Superior.
Onshore at Raspberry or Stockton islands, the children walked a trail through woods influenced by the lake and National Park Service protection. Rangers helped them realize the influences of the lake on the quarrymen, lumbermen, lighthouse keepers and Native Americans that make up the rich marine heritage that is the sustenance of our coastal communities. And they got to meet some of the invasive species that threaten our ecosystem.
The biggest limitation to field trips like this is “transportation costs and admission fees if the grant isn’t available,” says Monica Kolpin, a fourth-grade teacher at Hurley Elementary.
Before disembarking the children each took the microphone to “Give a Voice” to their experience. Highlights included hearing stories about the lighthouse keepers, seeing a shipwreck near shore, going on the top deck of the boat in the wind and waves, eating lunch on an island, being surrounded by water and sharing the day with friends.
Friends Elsa and Ella wrote, “The rocks shimmer in the water below like the summer sun on fish scales. The fish swim in the emerald water of Lake Superior. An eagle soars in the clear sky.” Back in school the children shared photos, wrote postcards, drew a mural, designed an informational booklet and even talked about their field trip experience at their July school board meeting.
“I think that this trip helped them realize why we need to protect national parks and marine sanctuaries and why it is important to study them,” says Jodi. “I also think it was really important to continue to stress the importance of only leaving footprints on the islands.”
The students had to bring everything they brought on the island back with them, including garbage from lunch, which was hard for some of them to understand.
“We were told to say goodbye to Bayfield when we left and be open to an adventure shaped by the lake,” said one of the children. “At first I was afraid to get on the boat but then I loved it.”
– Erica Peterson
If it’s not the Mary Ann, then which shipwreck is it?
Kris Ketonen reports for CBC News:
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the historic tugboat Mary Ann — the first ship registered in Canada — has deepened.
Divers thought they found the wreck of the fabled ship three years ago, near the Welcome Islands, in Lake Superior, off the shore of Thunder Bay, Ont.
But now, an archaeologist has completed a survey of the wreck, and has determined it's most likely not that of the Mary Ann.
Wreck hunters aren’t sure which ship it might actually be, and now the hunt begins anew for the Mary Ann.
Thunder Bay climate plan applauded
The city's Climate Adaptation Strategy isn't yet a year old and it's already receiving accolades for its foresight.
Speaking before city council on Monday, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Canada manager Ewa Jackson issued a ringing endorsement of the plan, adding Thunder Bay is already being used as a model for other municipalities who are making their own plans.
Port of Algoma marches on: “Sault Ste. Marie’s $147-million port plans are in limbo, pending the outcome of Essar Steel Algoma’s restructuring, but the city’s economic development department head vows they’re pressing on to make this high-priority infrastructure project a reality,” Ian Ross writes for Northern Ontario Business.
Paddling the Big Lake – on cardboard: “Two Harbors High School students continued an annual tradition by testing their ingenuity against the chilly waters of Lake Superior in October last week by putting the cardboard boats they built for a physics class project out on the lake in Burlington Bay,” writes the Lake County News-Chronicle.
Studying Lake Superior’s depths: Autonomous underwater gliders operated by the University of Minnesota Duluth travel hundreds of miles, collecting data along the way. Lisa Kaczke has more in the Duluth News Tribune.
The Upper Peninsula is a top value destination: That’s according to Lonely Planet, which included the U.P. alongside Namibia, Portugal, Hungary and six other bargain picks.
Preserving mining history: A local volunteer restored a four-person hand cart from the Keweenaw’s Quincy Mine, reports WLUC.
Ashland unveils new mural: The self-styled Historic Mural Capital of Wisconsin turned a highway pedestrian underpass into a delightful mural/mosaic about the area’s ecology, reports Sara M. Chase for the Daily Press.
Your next Airbnb could be a yurt: The Bayfield County Forestry & Parks Department has two new four-season yurts listed on the lodging site, writes Hope McLeod for the Bayfield County Journal. Both have direct access to local trails and already they’ve attracted dozens of reservations.
Video: An aerial view of a stunning Keweenaw coast by Steve Brimm. Don’t forget to turn your sound on to hear the roar.