Clean up on Apostle Islands after storms

People are working to clean up the Apostle Islands along Lake Superior, following last week’s storms in northern Wisconsin.

The national lakeshore’s 21 islands, as well as its mainland park, received some damage from the heavy rain.

The Lakeshore Trail on the mainland will be closed for the foreseeable future, as crews work to repair foot bridges that washed out.

Apostle Islands Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Education Neil Houk says the trail runs up and down typically dry ravines, but he says those are now filled with water: “The mud issue… we’re just going to have to give it a few days of dry weather to hope the mud has a chance to dry out. It’s not too comfortable to walk through puddles and get mud up to your knees.”

Part of a cliff collapsed near the sea caves along the Lakeshore Trail, causing rocks and trees to fall from the top.

Houk says other island trails are open, but doesn’t recommend people wear brand new shoes.

Crews have cleaned up a number of fallen trees on the islands and one campsite.

The Apostle Islands is home to an endangered shorebird: the piping plover. Houk says four pairs live on Long Island, but the storm washed out two nests, “So right now we’re hoping that those birds will try and re-nest. We still have two active nests on the island that seemingly, hopefully, were unaffected by the storm.”

There’s also quite a bit of debris in Lake Superior surrounding the islands. Houk says until it’s removed or washes to shore, he recommends people in power boats watch for floating logs.