After I lost my last election for mayor in spring of 2011 I was at loose ends. I went from having one of the most intense jobs in the city to having nothing to do.
One morning, about a month after I left office, I was wandering (and also wondering about what I might do next) around the downtown when I ran into a friend outside of Marigold Kitchen. He introduced me to his breakfast partner who turned out to be the superintendent of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Mostly just to make conversation, I mentioned that I had always wanted to be a volunteer lighthouse keeper. He said they still had openings that summer and I should apply.
Three months later I was on Stockton Island, helping the regular rangers manage the campground, staffing the office/gift shop, and generally spreading cheerfulness along with stern National Park Service warnings about not feeding the bears. There were a lot of bears.
I spent two weeks out there. I came back refreshed and reset and I got a job. The experience helped me clear my head and get back on track.
I went back the next three summers for two week stints each August, this time as a real lighthouse keeper on Sand Island. Actually, “lighthouse keeper” is not the official designation from the Park Service. Basically, you’re a docent. You give tours of the lighthouse, which is run by the Coast Guard and which is fully automated. It doesn’t need any keeping. Still, it’s a lot more romantic to think of yourself as a lighthouse keeper than as a tour guide, so in my mind and to anybody who asked I was a lighthouse keeper.
In addition to giving tours, you also make sure there’s enough toilet paper in the campground outhouses.You post the weather forecast on a bulletin board each morning. You run the flag up the pole in the morning and take it down at night. You keep a log book recording the weather and the number of visitors (not many because the only way to get there is by boat, mostly kayaks). That’s pretty much it. There’s a lot of time for reading. At the time there was no phone or internet service. I hope it’s the same way now, but I doubt it, cell service having become a staple of life, like water and air.
All of which is to say that when I first heard that there was a proposal to turn the Lakeshore into a real national park, I thought that was a great idea. Sure, it came from U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who had voted not to certify the 2020 election, but I thought the guy had finally had a good idea. It happens. Even Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
And I mean it would be a national park, people! I’ve seen the Ken Burns series. Twice. Dianne and I have one of those National Park Passport Books. The first thing we did when we got to Yellowstone was to demand a stamp proving that we had, ya know, been to Yellowstone. What’s not to like?
Well, turns out, there’s a lot not to like. To my surprise nobody around Bayfield seems to think this is a good idea. Tiffany didn’t bother to check in with anybody around there before introducing his bill. And, if he had, he might have gotten a cool reception.
The basic question everybody seems to have is why? Even most local officials, tribal leaders, business owners and economic development types are asking that question. They figure Bayfield and environs are pretty much already at capacity and there just isn’t much room or infrastructure for growth. Tiffany’s estimate is that a park designation would add another 300,000 visitors a year for Bayfield County — on top of the 1.5 million they got last year.
Moreover, any more stuff that would get forced into the area might ruin what they’ve got. To quote the great Yogi Berra, it would become so popular that nobody would go there anymore.
And so now I find myself asking the same question. Why? What’s the point exactly? To be honest, even when I gave lighthouse tours, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t in a national park. It felt like one. The real rangers even wore the traditional wide brimmed hats. (Volunteers wear baseball caps. They had the official seal, but still, I felt cheated.)
So, I’ve rethought my knee jerk reaction based on my love for national parks. I don’t see the point in this case. And I think it might do a lot more harm than good. Turns out Tom Tiffany still hasn’t had a good idea.
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
