Visitors have been escorted out of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior and park employees have been sent home. It’s all part of the federal government shutdown.
No one’s camping, hiking or fishing in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore this morning. The only people allowed in there are a few park rangers patrolling the 21-island group. On Tuesday, Park Superintendent Bob Krumanaker says they went into a four-hour shutdown drill. “We need to spend this morning shutting down the National Park,“ he said, ”which essentially means closing the park to visitor use. We are gating Meyer’s Road. We are putting up signs on all of our buildings and docks and, unfortunately, we have to escort people out of the park because the park is closed.”
Krumanaker says he won’t even be able to use his cell phone while they’re on this forced furlough. That goes for his staff too, “who are worried about when they’re going to get their paychecks. The park has a huge economic impact on northern Wisconsin. Some of that is salaries and some of that is tourism,” Krumanaker said. “But the employees of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: this is not their fault. They didn’t cause that. They’re not particularly well-paid. And they don’t know if and when they’re going to get a paycheck.”
As the gateway to the park, Bayfield Mayor Larry MacDonald is sad and miffed. “It’s a hell of a blow. The economy’s tough to begin with and now we’re getting dumped on with this. Until this is done we won’t have anyone coming or they won’t be happy if they come and they can’t use the park.” The Apostle Islands Cruise line that runs out of Bayfield has to alter its course slightly to stay out of the quarter mile zone around the park’s islands.
