Apostle Islands officials looking to charge fees for ice caves

The next del­uge of ice cave visi­tors to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore could be charged some cool cash to see the fro­zen nat­u­ral won­ders.

Park ad­min­is­tra­tors are con­sid­er­ing char­ging a $5 Spe­cial Rec­re­a­tion Per­mit fee for visi­tors 12 and old­er, to be col­lect­ed at Meyers Beach, where ice cave ex­plor­ers be­gin their trek to the caves across fro­zen Lake Su­pe­ri­or near the shore.

Last sea­son, an un­prec­e­dent­ed 138,000 visi­tors flocked to the ice-draped caves and cliffs over the course of about 10 weeks. The caves were ac­ces­si­ble for the first time in five years, and word of their beau­ty went viral on so­cial me­di­a.

The only fee charged was $3 per car for park­ing. But the area was so crowd­ed that most visi­tors parked on the high­way or in tem­po­rary lots near­by, so the park col­lect­ed only $47,000, "a frac­tion of what it ac­tu­al­ly cost to man­age this e­vent," ac­cord­ing to a park news re­lease.

Peo­ple worked seven days a week tak­ing phone calls and e-mails, di­rect­ing traf­fic, plowing and shoveling snow and clean­ing restrooms as well as res­cu­ing visi­tors who hurt them­selves on the ice and warm­ing up visi­tors who hadn't dressed well for the cold. Oth­er groups pitched in with ser­vices and cash, but that isn't sus­tain­a­ble in fu­ture years, park staff said.

Park of­fi­cials be­lieve that last year's pub­lic­i­ty will mean regu­lar throngs of tour­ists from now on, in years when it's safe to walk on the ice.

"We're get­ting phone calls and e-mails al­read­y," Ranger Myra Foster said Wednes­day.

"Re­al­ly, what we're looking for is cost re­cov­er­y," Foster said.

The park will host two public hear­ings on the pro­posed fee:

• 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 22 at the Northern Great Lakes Vis­i­tor Center in Ashland, Wis.

• 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Head­quar­ters, 415 Washington Av., Bay­field, Wis.