WASHINGTON — Ted Dougherty, the former mayor of Bayfield, Wisconsin, said he’s all in favor of preserving the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, 21 islands in Lake Superior off the northern tip of the Bayfield Peninsula and 12 miles of shoreline.
But in his view, and the view of some other residents, designating this resource as a national park would be a big mistake.
“We love it, and we care about it, and we want to protect it,” Dougherty said. “We are underserved with police, we’re underserved with National Park Service rangers, and I would argue that the Coast Guard is stretched thin. So to try to throw more on top of it without reaching out to the people that are most impacted is angering. It’s insulting, and it’s condescending.”
But Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, feels otherwise. He plans to reintroduce legislation designating the islands as a national park…