HOUGHTON — The public will have at least a month to review the final environmental impact statement for Isle Royale National Park’s proposed wilderness plan before it becomes official.

The National Park Service posted a notice of availability for the final Environmental Impact Statement for the plan Friday at parkplanning.nps.gov.

The plan and EIS were drafted in accordance with the Wilderness Act of 1964, which requires wilderness to be managed in a way that preserves its character.

Of the three alternatives identified in the plan, the park endorsed Alternative B, which focused on enhancing wilderness character — and particularly improving visitors’ wilderness experience — while maintaining Isle Royale’s natural wilderness quality and opportunities for solitude and primitive and unconfined recreation. This alternative would provide additional access opportunities consistent with the public purposes of wilderness.

Under the proposed plan, the group size limit for camping would be raised to 12. A new permitting and monitoring program would require visitors to obtain backcountry/wilderness permits ahead of time.

Wilderness campgrounds could be booked up to 85% of capacity. The remaining 15% would be left open to allow for flexible itineraries and to address overcrowding and conflicts in campgrounds.

“Although there is potential for increased use levels in wilderness, the NPS would more actively manage visitor use to improve solitude and unconfined recreation within wilderness,” the park said in the plan.

Two new wilderness campgrounds would be established, one on Wright Island and another on Johns Island, to provide more opportunities for boaters, kayakers and canoers. Various areas of the island would be rezoned to reflect current and proposed uses, including hiking trails and administrative uses. The winter closure would remain in effect but would be reevaluated if open water existed in Rock Harbor channel and Washington Harbor during 100% of the winter season for at least five consecutive years.

Under this alternative, historic structures and installations would be classified for treatment as preservation, stabilization, moldering or removal.

Alternative A is the “no-action alternative,” describing existing management practices in the park’s 1998 General Management Plan (GMP) and as implemented through the Superintendent’s Compendium. Under Alternative A, the park would continue to address the needs of wilderness stewardship in accordance with the GMP, which generally addresses how the park conducts activities within wilderness. The GMP does not include an overarching stewardship component designed to enhance wilderness character. There are no formal priority or treatment distinctions for historic structures or installations in wilderness. It would include building campgrounds at Crystal Cove, Fisherman’s Home, Johns Island, and Wright Island.

Alternative C would emphasize solitude by decreasing day use group size, reducing the number of campsites within campgrounds, eliminating some trails, implementing a camping reservation system, and allowing winter access to the park. The alternative proposes eliminating commercial use within Isle Royale wilderness, which would enhance solitude by reducing visitor encounters with large groups. This alternative would also remove shelters and structures in wilderness to improve primitive and unconfined recreation qualities as well as natural and undeveloped qualities of wilderness.

The final EIS evaluates the impacts of all alternatives considered in the plan and responds to substantive public and agency comments received on the draft plan/EIS during the 60-day comment period that began in August 2023.

The Notice of Availability allows the public and stakeholders to review the Wilderness Stewardship Plan before the National Park Service takes action. A final decision on the final plan/EIS will be documented through a Record of Decision signed by the Midwest Regional Director at least 30 days from the publication of the plan in the Federal Register. Notice of the decision will be announced through press release and on www.nps.gov/ISRO.