Should Apostle Islands National Lakeshore become part of the National Wilderness Preservation System?
To answer the question with the word "yes" is a means of avoiding the challenging riddles that concern the Apostles Island and the understanding of the wilderness. How is it possible to interpret the island so that the visitors will be able to understand and appreciate the stories and lesson from the island? The visitors will not recognize the Apostle Island of today if they will go by the belief that they are experiencing a pristine nature. A riddle to answer is on how to manage the Apostle Island as a true wilderness by keeping the human marks on the land and as well making the interpretation to the visitors to enable them to have a good picture concerning the Island and transformation. One thing that makes the question complicated is the Wilderness Act of 1964 that seems to bring about a boundary between nature and culture separating the two making wilderness devoid of human civilization (Cronon, 2003). All this has great implication when it comes to managing and designating Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and other parks as wilderness. The trails in the wilderness should be at a minimum to enhance nature over culture and encourage the perception of the visitors concerning the wilderness. National Park Service (NPS) policies should also prevent mapping the historical features and the use of interpretive signs to enhance the perception the visitors concerning the wilderness.
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What are the alternatives do we have?
Answering the question might also help to address other landscapes that combine both human dwelling and wildness. One of the critical things is to know is that Apostles Islands National Lakeshore is always and will remain to be historical wilderness. James Feldman's concept of re-wilding is among the things that can help to restore back the wilderness to the Apostles Islands National Lakeshore. However, some parts of the island have extensive alteration from human activities like logging, but currently, restoration is taking place to the extent that hiking people cannot notice that the area was bare a half a century ago. The presence of old buildings, fencerows, and even tools is a good show there were human activities in the place a few years back. Different people manage to utilize the landscape because it was rich in resources. The native people were cultivating it for the subsistence, then later for fishing, logging, quarrying, touring among other economic activities (Feldman, 2004). The fertility in the island is essential in its ability to restore to its states, but it can take a much longer time to restore fully. If the visitors can see the stamps and structure in the island, they will be able to learn more about the restoration and re-wilding the island.
What are the chances?
There is debate concerning the restoration considering history over wilderness or wilderness over history. The critical chance in the restoration process is to bring the balance between nature and culture simultaneously when carrying out restoration activities. Balancing the two is significant to the visitors because they will be able to learn and recognize that wilderness can accommodate both human history and offer flourishing wild nature. The Apostle Islands is one of the best places for the visitors when it comes to learning the stories, and especially that combines both the wilderness and human culture. Therefore is a need for management policy in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore that helps in the protection of the wilderness as well as the historical values without forgetting the stories wilderness and human history.
Questions to stimulate class discussion
What are the achievements of National Park Service (NPS) in the restoration of the Apostles Islands?
Why Sand and Basswood islands regarded as classrooms for historical wilderness?
Should restoration consider wilderness over history or history over wilderness?
References
Cronon, W. (2003). The riddle of the Apostle Islands. Orion, 22(3) , 36-42.
Feldman, J. W. (2004). Rewilding the Islands: Nature, History, and Wilderness at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. University of Wisconsin.
