Pending Legislation

H.R. _, Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Act

STATEMENT OF FRANK W. LANDS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL LANDS CONCERNING H.R. _, A BILL TO REDESIGNATE THE APOSTLE ISLANDS NATIONAL LAKESHORE AS THE APOSTLE ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE.

JULY 24, 2024

Chairman Tiffany, Ranking Member Neguse, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present the Department of the Interior’s views on H.R. _, to redesignate the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as the “Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve”. While this bill was not introduced in time for the Department to take a position, we would like to make some observations that we believe will be helpful to the bill sponsor and the Committee.

This draft legislation would designate Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Lakeshore) as “Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve,” to be comprised of two units, Apostle Islands National Park and Sand Island National Preserve. The draft would require that Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve be administered by the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) in accordance with the laws generally applicable to units of the National Park System. Within Apostle Islands National Park, the bill would prohibit hunting and trapping. The draft provides that nothing in the bill would create a protective perimeter or buffer zone around the Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light.

Within the unit named Sand Island National Preserve, the draft would require the Secretary to administer hunting and trapping in the same manner that these activities were administered the day before the date of enactment. Within Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve, the draft would require the Secretary to administer fishing in the same manner that this activity was administered on the day before the bill’s enactment. Finally, the draft clarifies that nothing would prohibit hunting, fishing, or trapping on private lands.

Established by Congress in 1970, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore consists of 21 islands and a 12-mile strip of shoreline encompassing approximately 70,000 acres of land and water on the northern tip of Wisconsin and in Lake Superior. The park is located in Bayfield and Ashland Counties, Wisconsin, - within the ancestral homeland of the Ojibwe people. Part of the Lakeshore's Mainland Unit is within the reservation of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The remaining land areas of the lakeshore are within the territory ceded as part of the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe made with the Ojibwe Tribes of Lake Superior and the Mississippi River. The Ojibwe reserved their rights to hunt, trap, and gather within this ceded territory. The National Park Service (NPS) recognizes and respects these rights.

The Department notes that the draft legislation’s prohibition on hunting and trapping in the portion of the park designated as Apostle Islands National Park is consistent with the long- standing congressional practice of reserving the designation of “national park” for units of the National Park System where hunting and trapping is prohibited, reflecting the NPS’s standard nomenclature. The Department also notes that while the Lakeshore currently allows hunting and trapping throughout the park, under this draft, hunting and trapping would be allowed only within the unit designated Sand Island National Preserve, which consists of only one of the Lakeshore’s 21 islands.

In our preliminary review, the Department identified two areas that we would recommend addressing before the draft bill is introduced: one is the need for clarification of the relationship between Apostle Islands National Park and Sand Island National Preserve. It would be unusual to establish one unit of the National Park System within another unit; a more common formation would be to establish a separate unit that could be administered in conjunction with the other unit. A second area is the need to reinforce the treaty rights of the Ojibwe for hunting, trapping, and gathering throughout the proposed park. While the treaty rights to hunt, trap, and gather within the ceded territory have been upheld in a series of federal and state court decisions over the past three decades, we believe it would be helpful to have these rights reaffirmed by the legislation.

We would be happy to work with the sponsor on language for this draft legislation that addresses the issues identified in this testimony and any other issues that emerge as we continue our review.

Chairman Tiffany, this concludes my statement. I would be happy to answer any questions that you or the other members of the Subcommittee have.