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Act passed. So if you're a
criminal, illegal alien,

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you know what? You're
getting deported.

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>> As the nation honors
fallen service members this

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Memorial Day on Monday, the
tourism industry marks the

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start of the summer season.
A bill in the U.S. House

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would re designate the
Apostle Islands as

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Wisconsin's first national
park, the 21 islands and 12

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miles of mainland off Lake
Superior in northern

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Wisconsin is already a
national lakeshore.

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Supporters say the
designation as a national

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park would boost tourism
and local economies.

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Republican Congressman Tom
Tiffany introduced the

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measure and it passed.
Committee this spring. But

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local governments in and
around Bayfield County and

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the Red Cliff band of Lake
Superior Chippewa oppose

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the redesignation. The
county and the tribe

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drafted a formal resolution
together opposing it. We

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asked Bayfield County Board
Chair Jan Lee why. And

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thanks very much for being
here.

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>> Thank you for having me.
>> So we've done some

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reporting in Bayfield, kind
of during the summer season.

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And the crush of tourists
can be difficult for small

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businesses there to manage.
How would a national park

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designation increase those
crowds?

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>> Yes. Thank you. So I
think to to start, like you

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said, the tourism area here
in Bayfield, in particular

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at the at the gateway to
the Apostle Islands has

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hasn't been a problem in
the summertime. There's

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never been a problem with
not having enough tourists

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up here in the late spring,
summer, early fall,

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basically through Apple
Fest every first weekend of

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October. As a matter of
fact, we're pretty much

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bursting at the seams in
terms of what we can

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accommodate in terms of
lodging and restaurants.

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And that affects workforce,
of course. And we don't

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have housing for people up
here. It's hard to have to,

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to to have workforce come
in that can accommodate all

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these tourists for the
businesses. So and I know

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that Mr. Tiffany has touted
this redesignation as a

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boon for tourism, but we're
we're basically looking for

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tourism in other directions.
I, you know, I think as a

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whole, we're, you know,
we've done a lot of work

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over the last 15 to 20
years trying to create

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tourism as an industry up
here, getting people all

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the way up to northern
Wisconsin to enjoy Lake

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Superior and the inland
lakes that we have. And,

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and we've done a really
good job of that. But what

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we've really been trying to
do is subsequently also is

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to try to do that in the
shoulder seasons and in the

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winter, to expand tourism
in those areas. And the big

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problem with Mr. Tiffany's
bill at this point in time

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is that we don't know where
the infrastructure is going

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to come to support it.
>> Infrastructure like

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roads and lodging and
parking. But but wouldn't

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the Federal Park Service be
responsible for that?

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>> Well, we are responsible
as a county for our roads

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and I mean the highway
department for our county

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roads and county. Highway
13 is what gets you up to

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Bayfield. It runs through
Washburn, which is also a

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small city about 12 miles
south of Bayfield. And that

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is also sort of a gateway
point to the Apostle

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Islands, as well as north
of Bayfield, where the Red

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Cliff Lake Superior Band of
Ojibwe live. About two

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miles north of Bayfield is
where the reservation

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starts. And they have
treaty rights, of course,

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to the area. The big.
Another issue that we've

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we've been sort of trying
to address is the treaty

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rights and the fact that
we've. We've invited Mr.

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Tiffany to come. We want to
be a part of the dialog. We

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want to share our concerns
and our questions, have our

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questions heard. But he
hasn't come. And so we

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received about a year and a
half ago or we. And by that

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I mean the County Board and
the Red Cliff Tribal

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Council first heard about
Mr. Tiffany's bill

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resolution H.R. 9111. And
when we heard about it, we

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found out that the
resolution had basically

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already been written and
was already on its way to

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Washington, D.C. without
consultation with the

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county board or the City of
Bayfield or the Tribal

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Council. And so we never
got a chance to express our

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concerns or ask our
questions. And that pretty

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much left us in an area of
the only option that we

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have left at the federal
level is to enact some

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resolution. So that's what
we did. We don't normally

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like to enact negative
resolutions. We like to

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work in the positive. And
but this is an instance

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where we felt that since we
hadn't been heard or

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consulted, that we really
didn't have another option.

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>> What would you be
seeking from the federal

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government or the Federal
Park Service to make this

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thing work?
>> I think, first of all,

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what we've never heard is
an as a as a deeper

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explanation of why the
National Lakeshore

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designation is already a
part of the Park Service.

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It's a part of the national
parks programing of

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designation of land matter
and bodies of water. So.

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And right now, as the
National Lakeshore, it is

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at one of the highest, if
not the highest level of

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protection, because it is a
wild area. It's a it's a

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wilderness area. Even
though people live in these

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small communities on the
shoreline, the lake itself

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and the islands are subject
to very dramatic weather

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shifts and very cold water
that as as we know of

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anybody who knows this area
knows, has been responsible

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for hundreds of deaths,
either in ships or boats or

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people out kayaking or, you
know, canoeing, who aren't

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familiar with how
unpredictable this very big

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lake, which is actually
more of an inland sea, how

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quickly the weather can
change, how cold the water

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is, and how prepared and
knowledgeable you have to

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be in order to embark on it.
So that's one of our

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concerns, is just the
safety of it, of it all as

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well.
>> Well, we will we will

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watch this bill as it as it
moves through and prepare

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to visit and do some field
reporting up there.

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>> We'd love to have you
come up, take a look, enjoy.

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The area.
>> All right. Jan Lee from