🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Isle Royale National Park

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Michigan is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Michigan’s important historical and natural places: Isle Royale National Park, which preserves the history and natural history of the largest island in Lake Superior.

“In the northwestern portion of Lake Superior is a unique and remote island archipelago. Isle Royale National Park preserves 132,018 acres of land that was federally designated as wilderness on October 20, 1976. The park consists of one large island surrounded by over 450 smaller islands; it encompasses a total area of 850 square miles including submerged land, which extends 4½ miles out into the largest fresh water lake in the world. Isle Royale’s unique ecosystem led to it being designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980.”

These isolated islands have only 19 mammal species, compared to over 40 found on the surrounding mainland. Some species have come and gone, often due to human influences. The heavily forested shoreline of Isle Royale appears similar to the mainland’s landscape prior to development. Gulls, ravens, and an occasional eagle or osprey dot the skies; squirrels, toads, mice, and spiders move about the forest floor.

The ecological study of wolves on Isle Royale is the longest running large mammal predator-prey study on earth. The park celebrated the study’s 50th anniversary in 2008. Research has shown that all members of the Isle Royale wolf population have descended from a single female, who arrived during the late 1940s. This intense level of inbreeding has led to a 50% loss of genetic variability within the population today. Genetic information also suggest that the island’s moose population is most closely related to moose in northwestern Minnesota, perhaps challenging the long-held idea that moose swam across the lake to reach Isle Royale. Did humans bring them here?

A venture by foot, canoe or kayak into the park’s interior can transport one back thousands of years. Around 11,000 years ago, two miles of ice lay on top of Isle Royale, pressing it down into the earth and sculpting its topography. This same ice sheet gave birth to Lake Superior as well as hundreds of inland lakes, ponds and bogs. The Greenstone Ridge, which forms the backbone of Isle Royale, is thought by many geologists to be a portion of the largest lava flow on earth. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about this park’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the webpage for Isle Royale National Park from the National Park Service, and also on the park’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What American treasures have you and your students explored in your homeschool this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a great long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛️

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨️

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓️

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