The North Shore lost its Coast Guard, so it built its own

GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. – An SOS came barely a day after delivery of a new marine rescue boat to the Grand Portage Reservation — a 25-footer near the Rock of Ages Lighthouse off Isle Royale had lost propulsion in waves swelling up to 7 feet.

A Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa rescue crew headed out Sept. 6 on what became a six-hour operation towing the boat and its four passengers successfully back to land in choppy waters.

It was the maiden rescue for what the tribal nation says is both the first Indigenous marine rescue unit in the United States and the first partnership of its kind with Cook and Lake counties. Born from the void left in Grand Marais with the closure of its U.S. Coast Guard Station in 2022, four custom vessels will soon cover the section of Lake Superior between the Ontario border and Duluth.

“That is a vast amount of water” that lost search and rescue capabilities, said Seth Moore, Grand Portage natural resources department director.

And it’s especially critical given the nature of Lake Superior.

“You have to give this lake some respect, because it can change in a heartbeat and it can change drastically,” said Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen.

The Duluth, Houghton, Mich.-area and Marquette, Mich., Coast Guard stations are simply too far away to reach most of the region’s emergency situations in time, especially in dangerous conditions, Moore said.

That incident really illustrated the need for a heavier marine response closer to home, tribal emergency manager Ruth Vogel said.

Tribal Chair Robert Deschampe lobbied the Legislature for months to fund a marine rescue program, and, fittingly, was on board for the first rescue, invited after pulling up to see the new boat as they readied it.

With the help of Rep. Heather Keeler, DFL-Moorhead, and Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, the band received $3 million in the state 2023 omnibus bill. Hauschild has said the federal government left the North Shore “stranded” when it pulled the Coast Guard out of Grand Marais.

The North Shore sees commercial anglers and a high volume of tourists who also fish or use kayaks and paddle boards in Lake Superior. And each entity receives enough calls to make this partnership significant, officials said.

Grand Portage, which gets called out for a potential rescue about 10 times per boating season, rescued the man who fell overboard and swam nearly 2 miles to an island in August.

“If they have a vessel that’s not really well-set up for Lake Superior, or they don’t have good experience operating in difficult conditions, they’re going to get in trouble fast,” he said.

On board a gray, 39-foot vessel Friday, Moore and Vogel tested some of its features, exiting the safety of a bay onto open, deep, turquoise Lake Superior waters.

Under an ominous sky, Moore accelerated the 700-horsepower watercraft through frothy 2-foot waves.

The powerful boat can handle waves swelling up to 15 feet, “but it would not be enjoyable,” Moore said.

He navigated around the Susie Islands off Grand Portage, beaching the boat into obscure coves to practice using thermal technology on land. It will be critical in finding capsized kayakers or others who’ve fallen into the lake.

Superior, Wis.-based Lake Assault Boats was hired to build four custom vessels, two for Grand Portage and one each for Cook and Lake counties.

The band is creating an official marine rescue program to replace the work its conservation and natural resources employees have historically done. Four employees are trained to operate the new boats and they expect to add a few more, even exploring captains’ licensing.

Eliasen hopes to designate two of his department of 16 in Cook County to patrol the lake late spring through September, and expects to work with the Duluth Coast Guard on training.

The county’s current boat is about half the length of the one it will soon receive, so it’s had to rely on border patrol and Grand Portage for help in certain situations.

Eliasen hopes the partnership will allow his deputies to spend more time boarding boats and enforcing maritime laws and safety. It’s not something his department has been able to do, and he worries about subpar equipment and a lack of life jackets.

The boats are modeled after smaller vessels designed for the U.S. Coast Guard, able to handle larger-scale waves and travel more than 50 miles per hour. They come with emergency lights, sirens and sophisticated sonar. One of the Grand Portage boats is bigger than the others, with space for larger rescues and to carry firefighters to Isle Royale if necessary.

The band is working on a memorandum of understanding with the National Park Service on Isle Royale to aid in search and rescue around the island, Moore said. He added that the band has a close relationship with the park as historical occupants of the land, which is designated as its traditional cultural property. Isle Royale sits about 20 miles from Grand Portage.

Grand Portage’s first boat is named Genawaaboonagak, which in Ojibwe means “keeping watch while on the water.”

The band has always been a steward of Lake Superior, relying on it for food and protecting its health and habitat, Vogel said.