"The path beneath our feet in the new Frog Bay Tribal National Park in Bayfield, Wis., is soft and springy as we walk over peat moss and decades of fallen pine needles, leaves and bark that have collected on the boreal forest floor.

As we make our way through the towering birch, hemlock and cedar, we hear birdsong from some of the 90 species that live in the park.

Down on the curving mainland beach, where we had landed our dinghy earlier, a quarter-mile strand looks out toward the Apostle Islands' Gaylord Nelson Wilderness area. From our vantage point, we can see out toward Oak, Hermit, Raspberry and Stockton islands.

Our family came to this spot not just to get a good view of the Apostles, but to visit Wisconsin's youngest park, which opened to the public in August. Owned by the Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, the 90-acre park is co-managed by the tribe and the Bayfield Regional Conservancy.

We set out on a blue-sky day that offered no hint of the ferocious thunderstorm that had buffeted the islands the night before, sailing from Quarry Bay on Stockton Island to Frog Bay, where we met our guide, Ellen Kwiatkowski, executive director of the Bayfield Regional Conservancy."

Get the Story:
Brian E. Clark: Tribal lands become a new park on Superior (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 10/6)

Also Today:
Kevin Revolinski: Land returns to tribe, everybody wins (The Chicago Tribune 10/7)

Related Stories:
Column: Red Cliff Band preserves culture with first tribal park (8/13)
Red Cliff Band opens Frog Bay Tribal National Park to the public (8/1)