Voyageurs National Park

The Battle to Create Minnesota’s National Park

Fred T. Witzig

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9780816694235
• Year: 2004

When President Nixon signed the legislation authorizing the establishment of Voyageurs National Park on January 8, 1971, almost eighty years had passed since Minnesota's government initially petitioned to create a national park in the northern portion of the state. Voyageurs National Park chronicles the complex legal and political campaign to found Minnesota's only national park. Witzig's thoroughly documented and referenced research allows him to offer a detailed view of the unanticipated disappointments and defining moments of achievement that accompanied this complicated legislative battle. Concentrating on the period from 1962 to 1975, Witzig identifies and explains the central issues surrounding the campaign including land acquisition policy, local concerns and opposition to the park, interagency conflict over U.S. forest lands, antifederal attitudes in northeastern Minnesota, and the overstated case for the economic benefits a national park would bring. Witzig covers the dispute over the inclusion of Crane Lake in the park and focuses on the many individuals and groups who were instrumental in the establishment of Voyageurs National Park, such as Governor Elmer L. Andersen, John A. Blatnik, Sigurd F. Olson, and Rita Shemesh.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• ONE: The National Park Service in Northeastern Minnesota: The Early Years
• TWO: Developing a Proposal for Voyageurs National Park
• THREE: Delay and Frustration
• FOUR: Progress on Voyageurs Stalled
• FIVE: State Administration Leads National Park Cause
• SIX: The Introduction of Voyageurs National Park Legislation
• SEVEN: The Reintroduction of Park Legislation
• EIGHT: Deadlocks and Bottlenecks
• NINE: Congressional Hearings
• TEN: Final Passage
• ELEVEN: The Final Step to Establishment: Land Donation and the State Legislature
• TWELVE: The Four Years to Establishment
• Epilogue
• Appendix A. Voyageurs National Park Legislation
• Appendix B. Legislative Chronology for Voyageurs National Park, 1891–2001
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index