A draft wilderness management plan for Isle Royale is open for public comment through late September/NPS file

A draft wilderness management plan crafted for Isle Royale National Park in Michigan is open for public comment through September 26.

The document aims to develop strategies for preserving the park's wilderness character, including the treatment of cultural resources in wilderness. The park's previous Backcountry Wilderness Plan and Final EIS did not provide a decision for treatments and use of historic structures in potential and designated wilderness, and that's one reason for developing a new plan. This plan would determine preservation and use of historic structures in potential and designated wilderness.

According to park staff, preliminary inventory and monitoring of wilderness and backcountry resources indicate a difference between existing conditions and desired conditions. Changes in backcountry use, management actions, increasing visitation, and associated human-caused adverse impacts suggest an underlying need to more proactively manage human activities that directly or indirectly affect wilderness conditions.

The national park in the northern part of Lake Superior encompasses 133,788 acres of land and 438,008 acres of surface water (571,796 total acres). Approximately 98 percent of the land portion of the park was designated by Congress as wilderness in 1976. Later additions of land for wilderness designation brought the total wilderness acreage to 99 percent, encompassing 132,018 acres. Currently, 93 acres of the island have been identified as potential wilderness areas. Only 1,677 acres of the island are considered non-wilderness. 

The two action alternatives, B and C, take somewhat different approaches to visitor enjoyment in wilderness. Under Alternative B, the group limit size for camping would be increased to 12. Additionally, this alternative would create a "new permitting system and monitoring program would be established with visitors required to obtain backcountry/wilderness permits in advance. Wilderness campgrounds would be booked up to 85 percent of capacity. The remaining 15 percent of campsites would not be booked in advance to allow for flexible itineraries and to address overcrowding and conflicts in campgrounds. Two new wilderness campgrounds would be established, one on Wright Island and another on Johns Island to provide more opportunities for boaters, kayakers, and canoers."

While this alternative would continue the park's closuring during winter months, that closure "would be reevaluated if open water existed during 100 percent of the winter season for at least five consecutive years."

Under Alternative C, solitude would be emphasized "by decreasing day use group size, reducing the number of campsites within campgrounds, eliminating some trails, implementing a camping reservation system, and allowing winter access to the park. The alternative proposes eliminating commercial use within Isle Royale wilderness, which would enhance solitude by reducing visitor encounters with large groups. The alternative would also remove shelters, picnic tables, and other structures and installations in wilderness to improve the primitive and unconfined recreation qualities. These actions would enhance the natural and undeveloped qualities of wilderness character."

Under both alternatives, historic structures and installations would be classified for treatment as preservation, stabilization, mouldering, or removal. 

You can find the draft plan, and comment on it, at this site.