Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Act
Sponsored By: Representative Tiffany
In Committee
Summary
Designates and redesignates Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as the new Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve. It would create a park component and a preserve component managed together and set rules for hunting, fishing, and tribal rights.
Show full summary
- Families and visitors: Hunting and trapping would be prohibited inside the National Park component except where a treaty, statute, or executive order permits it. Fishing would be managed the same way it was under the lakeshore rules in effect before enactment.
- Tribal Nations: Treaty and other rights to hunt, trap, fish, and gather on lands within the new boundaries would be preserved and not affected by this change.
- Management and public access: The Secretary of the Interior would administer the park and preserve as one unit under National Park Service law. The official map would be kept on file and visitor centers must include interpretive features about regional history and a copy of the Act.
- Private landowners: Nothing in the Act would prohibit hunting, fishing, or trapping on private land when done under applicable State and Federal law.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
One-unit administration for Park and Preserve
If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to run the Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve as a single unit of the National Park System. Management would follow this Act and the general laws that apply to national park units. The bill does not specify new funding.
Rename lakeshore to park and preserve
If enacted, the bill would rename Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve. The change would take effect upon enactment and apply wherever the old name appears in laws, maps, and official records. This would update legal and public references used by visitors, local governments, and land managers.
Visitor center history displays required
If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary to include interpretive displays at the principal visitor centers describing the region's history, including Ojibwe tribes, early European settlers, fur trade, logging, stone quarries, lighthouses, and commercial fishing. The centers would also provide a copy of this Act.
Hunting, fishing, and tribal rights
If enacted, the bill would keep fishing, hunting, and trapping rules the same as they were the day before the redesignation for the lakeshore portion that becomes the Preserve. It would ban hunting and trapping inside the Park except where a treaty, statute, or executive order allows a Tribe to do so. The bill would also confirm tribal treaty and statutory rights and allow hunting, fishing, or trapping on private land under applicable State and Federal law.
Official map and park boundaries
If enacted, the bill would set the Park and Preserve boundaries as shown on the official map titled "Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Proposed Boundaries", numbered 633/193,514, dated October 2024. The Map would be kept on file and available for public inspection at National Park Service offices. The bill also says the map does not create a protective buffer around the Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light property.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Tiffany
WI • R
Cosponsors
Steil
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Wied
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Grothman
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Fitzgerald
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Van Orden
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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