ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK, MI— The National Park Service is crafting a final Wilderness Stewardship Plan for Isle Royale National Park.
The plan aims to preserve wilderness while allowing for use and enjoyment of the park.
The NPS’s preferred alternative would increase the group camping size limit to 12; wilderness campgrounds would be booked up to 85 percent of capacity; two new wilderness campgrounds would be created—one on Wright Island and another on Johns Island—to provide more opportunities for boaters, kayakers, and canoers; and the park’s annual winter closure would remain in effect but could change after five years of open water.
Also under the preferred plan, 52 of the park’s structures would be preserved, 23 would be stabilized, 18 would be left to deteriorate in place, and seven would be removed.
A public comment period on the plan closed this week.
The NPS will release its final plan this winter and implement it sometime in 2024.
