Levin seeks status change
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising BureauArticle Photos
The National Park Service has been working to finalize the establishment of the Beaver Basin Wilderness Area, which is one component of the park’s General Management Plan. The plan was completed and approved in 2004 after five years of planning and public involvement.
A formal proposal for the wilderness designation at Pictured Rocks for the Beaver Basin has been forwarded to the Legislative Council of the Department of the Interior by the park service.
Pictured Rocks Superintendent Jim Northup asked Michigan’s congressional delegation — including Levin, D-Southfield, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee — for support on the measure earlier this year.
“This would involve about one-sixth of the total area of the park,” Levin said, talking to a group of Alger County Democrats meeting Sunday in Munising. “It wouldn’t change anything from the way the park is currently managed.”
Northup said park officials are “obviously delighted” with Levin’s announcement.
“Senator Levin has always had a conservation ethic and a long-term strong vision for the future of the park,” Northup said.
Northup said trails and back country campgrounds will continue to be maintained, electric motors will continue to be permitted on Little Beaver and Beaver lakes and boats traveling along Lake Superior will continue to be allowed to beach along that section of the park.
“Wilderness designation will simply provide permanent legal protection to this portion of the park and ensure that opportunities to enjoy quiet, solitude and unconfined recreation continue to be provided for this and future generations in one portion of the national lakeshore,” Northup said.
The Little Beaver Campground, campground access road and the Beaver Basin overlook lie outside the area proposed as wilderness and would continue to be managed as they are now, Northup said.
While developing the General Management Plan from 1999-2004, the park service undertook an associated wilderness study for Pictured Rocks.
The overall concept of the new plan called for the park service to provide additional and more convenient access to significant lakeshore features on the east and west ends of the park, while preserving the central portion of the park in a primitive, relatively undisturbed state, proposing 11,739 acres in the Beaver Basin for wilderness designation.
Northup said Levin’s announcement comes on the heels of news last week that a technical corrections bill was approved in the House, which is expected to free up funding for paving Alger County Highway 58, a project critical to the park.
“The fact that both of these things are happening at the same time is very exciting,” Northup said.
Levin’s wilderness remarks Sunday were made while on a weekend swing through the central Upper Peninsula, which included stops in Houghton, Escanaba and Marquette.
On Saturday, Levin was the commencement speaker at Michigan Tech University. Later that day, he gave the keynote address at a 1st District Democratic dinner in Escanaba.
Sunday, after meeting with Democrats in Alger County, Levin visited veterans and toured the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Marquette.
