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Apostle Islands’ Ice Caves Drew 38,000 Visitors, $140K In Revenue

Official Says Some Funds Will Be Used To Build Bridge To Improve Access

By
ice caves, stpaulgirl (CC-BY-NC-ND)
stpaulgirl (CC-BY-NC-ND).

About 38,700 people visited Lake Superior’s famous ice caves during the nine-day stretch it was open this past winter. And during that time, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore brought in about $140,000 from its new $5 visitor fee.

Julie Van Stappen, the lakeshore’s chief of resource management, said they spent around $95,000 of that on extra staffing, supplies and equipment. She said the leftover cash will help them prepare for next year.

“We really need to bring some people in a few days before we open the caves just to help us out. There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into just getting everything ready to open. This will enable us to do that before we’re able to collect additional revenue,” she said.

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Van Stappen said a portion of the money will also go toward putting in a bridge on the mainland trail to improve access at Meyers Beach.