Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Act
Sponsored By: Representative Tiffany
In Committee
Summary
This bill would redesignate Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as the _Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve_, creating a two-part National Park Service unit with map-based boundaries. It would keep fishing rules as they are and ban hunting and trapping inside the new park except where a Tribe’s treaty, statute, or executive order allows it.
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- Visitors and local tourism: The area would get a new park name and principal visitor centers would display signage about regional history and a copy of the law to explain the site’s story.
- Hunters, trappers, and fishers: Hunting and trapping would be prohibited inside the park component except for tribal-authorized activities. Hunting, trapping, and fishing in the preserve would follow the rules that applied before the change. Private landowners could still use their land under applicable State and Federal law.
- Tribes: Tribal treaty, statutory, and executive order rights are preserved, including rights to hunt, trap, fish, and gather on lands within the new boundaries.
- Management: The Secretary of the Interior would manage both the park and preserve as a single unit under the laws that govern National Park System units, using the map titled "Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Proposed Boundaries" on file with the National Park Service.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
History signs at visitor centers
If enacted, the Secretary would be required to place signs at the main visitor centers describing the region's history. The signs must include information on the Ojibwe tribes, early European settlers, the fur trade, logging, stone quarries, lighthouses, and commercial fishing. A copy of the Act would also be available at those centers.
Rename Apostle Islands as Park
If enacted, the bill would rename Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as the Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve. The National Park Service would administer the Park and Preserve together as a single unit under the Secretary of the Interior. The change would take effect upon enactment.
Hunting, fishing, and Tribal rights
If enacted, the bill would prohibit hunting and trapping inside Apostle Islands National Park, except where a treaty, statute, or executive order permits a Tribe to do them. It would let hunting and trapping continue in the National Preserve as they were administered the day before enactment, consistent with Public Law 91-424. Fishing in both units would be administered the same way it was the day before enactment. Nothing in the bill would affect Tribal rights under treaties, statutes, or executive orders. Private landowners could still hunt, fish, or trap on their private land if state and federal law allows it.
Set Park and Preserve boundaries
If enacted, the bill would set the Park and Preserve boundaries to the areas shown on the October 2024 map numbered 633/193,514. The map must be filed and be available for public inspection at National Park Service offices. The bill would not create a protective buffer around the Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light property.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Tiffany
WI • R
Cosponsors
Rep. Steil, Bryan [R-WI-1]
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Wied
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Fitzgerald
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Rep. Van Orden, Derrick [R-WI-3]
WI • R
Sponsored 9/18/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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