Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Will Cronin, with the MSU Extension, has been studying problems posed to Keweenaw County as a result of increasing tourism pressure.

EAGLE RIVER — In May, 2023, Paul Putnam, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension District 1 Director, covering the central and western counties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, presented a report to the Keweenaw County Board that was prepared by MSU’s Will Cronin. Cronin is an educator with the Community Food and Environment Institute of Michigan State University Extension, with a specific focus on tourism development. He also works in land use planning. His spring, 2023 report outlined issues in the Keweenaw stemming from tourism pressure. Among the partners Cronin has has been working with is Eagle Harbor Township.

At the regular December meeting on Wednesday, Cronin gave the County Board a brief update on the ongoing study of the issues presented by the increase in people coming to the Keweenaw.

“I’ve been working with our friends up in Eagle Harbor Township for a little while on some issues related to what we’re calling tourism pressure.

“I think, as we all know,” Cronin said, “when the pandemic happened, lots of people came to the U.P. that hadn’t been here before, because they were looking for places to socially distance and they all showed up at once, and that created a lot of problems.”

Cronin said his project with the Eagle Harbor Township officials has studied issues like speed limits, trespassing, search and rescue, in an effort to develop a more coherent response to the issues that will help manage the situations going forward.

Among the pressures Cronin’s report identified were:

• Visitor expectations, particularly poor or no cellphone service.

• Fuel and food availability, especially in the evening.

• Lack or access to medical care and other vital services.

• Kayaking on Lake Superior, with or without proper experience.

• Impact on more visitors on resident such as “characters of the community,” traffic, demands on municipal services,”

• Trespassing on private property to access sites, especially sites that have gone viral on social media.

• Short-term rental impacts and policies.

“This has grown into a project now in partnership with our friends at WUPPDR, the Visit Keweenaw folks, the Copper Harbor Trails Club, Eagle Harbor Township,” Cronin said, “to put together sort of a regional and Keweenaw County coalition — assuming there’s a need for it, and we think there probably is — to focus on visitor education and advocacy for year-round good behavior, and just being a responsible user of the area.”

Cronin went on to say that, frankly, the issues do not just stem from outside visitors.

“I mean, we see that people are a little less careful out there these days,” he said, “so how can we help people be better users, better stewards, of our lands and things like that.”