Voyageurs National Park

Jun Fujita

Voyageurs National Park straddles a segment of the old “Voyageur’s Highway,” a 3,000-mile canoe route. The men who traversed this route, which included some 120 portages, 200 rapids, and 50 lakes, proudly bore the title of voyageurs. Archeological projects in the late 1970s to the present deepen understandings of the voyageurs’ lives—how they moved, shared cultures, and forged a lasting economy across an unfamiliar frontier.

This month's newsletter features the visit of NPS Director Chuck Sams, who reviewed key Voyageurs National Park projects funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, including underwater cable replacement and road resurfacing. We spotlight intern Grant Haley's contributions to park utilities and discuss the park's economic impact. Highlights include recent outreach events like the Star Party, updates on natural resource efforts, and maintenance projects.

A summary of bat monitoring data collected at Voyageurs National Park from 2015 through 2019.

A summary of acoustic bat monitoring in Great Lakes Network parks from 2015 through 2019.

The fur trade shaped American history, largely financing the exploration and settlement of much of the West.

First in a series of three "In Focus" articles that share insights into the near-universal and far-reaching effects of soils on the ecology, management, and enjoyment of our national parks.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

North American Breeding Bird Survey data collected on routes across the central United States were used to develop models to predict occupancy of bird species of interest in 32 midwestern national park units based on land cover in and around those parks. Predictions were compared with data collected from NPS bird surveys in each park to determine if species of interest were more or less prevalent than expected. This brief focuses on Great Lakes Network parks.