Plan for new day use, overnight site to be unveiled at open house

In an effort to meet the needs of visitors and expand opportunities within Voyageurs National Park, 73 day use and overnight sites will be developed in the future.
Voyageurs National Park will conduct an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center to unveil plans for development of the new day use and overnight sites within the park. Information about campsite development can also be found on the park’s Web page at www.nps.gov/voya.
The open house will feature maps and posters that show where the sites are to be built and where sites are currently available. The maps will remain at the visitor center after Saturday’s open house.
Campers have come to expect a high quality camping experience and park staff want to protect that experience while at the same time meeting the needs of visitors and expanding recreational opportunities in the park, Chris Holbeck, VNP environmental planning specialist, said.
“Our park is unique in that we have no campground, but we have 230-some individual campsites and that sets us apart from other parks,” said Holbeck.
The park’s campsite committee has selected 73 day use and overnight sites for development in accordance with the park’s General Management Plan of 2001. The sites identified for future construction would increase the total number of developed sites in the park to 306.
“We’re responding to comments received during development of the General Management Plan and trying to meet the needs of visitors while staying true to preserving that experience in the resource that our visitors have come to depend on,” said Holbeck.
Construction of the new sites will occur over time as funding is available, he said.
“Some years we may not be able to build any, and some years we’re able to get in several,” Holbeck said.
The campsite committee spent the last couple years visiting potential campsites and trying to determine which were the right ones to develop, Holbeck said. Sites were selected by the committee using the site selection criteria found in the Lakecountry and Backcountry Site Management Plan of 1988 and the GMP of 2001.
The committee also used “density of use” as a tool to prevent overcrowding of sites, according to Holbeck.
The recommendation from the committee was to meet targets given in GMP, but also leave some room for development in the future, Holbeck said. Sixty percent of the new sites will be developed in the Namakan District and 40 percent on Rainy Lake. The sites were selected based on the amount of available shoreline in the two districts.
Site selection criteria involve the physical attributes of the site, as well as esthetic, natural and cultural resource values including, but not limited to: development capacity, island size, wildlife habitat, water access, erosion risk, breeze potential, and proximity to other campsites.
To pose questions about the program, or for more information, contact Chris Holbeck, VNP environmental planning specialist, at 283-6610, or go online at www.nps.gov/voya.