Les Cheneaux

Download the Les Cheneaux Nature Tourism Assessment (updated 6/11/02)

Report Cover (309KB)

Pages 1 - 14 (1.51MB)

Pages 14 - 23 (812KB)

Pages 24 - 41 (1MB)

Shades of Red

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP) is one of America’s great wild areas. Wild as opposed to wilderness, for the UP is a naturalized, rather than natural forest. The forests there were leveled during the Big Cut of the late 1800s, and what now passes as wilderness actually is a product of the hand of man rather than God. Forestry in the United States learned its licks in the UP, and now we all benefit from those early efforts to restore the forests lost in madness and greed.MORE

The Spaces in Between - Les Cheneaux, Part I

The term "Les Cheneaux," roughly translated from the original French, is "the channels." Bordering the northern edge of Lake Huron along the southeastern lip of the Michigan Upper Peninsula (known endearingly as the UP), these "channels" are actually a 36-island archipelago arrayed along Lake Huron east of St. Ignace (the departure point for the area’s most famous tourist destination - Mackinac Island). These diverse islands, a few as small as a residential lot in the Detroit suburbs, are testament to the last glacial retreat from the Great Lakes some 12,000 years ago. From the perspective of nature tourism (our abiding interest), the Les Cheneaux serves as an entryway to the unspoiled (and relatively unknown) wild lands of the Michigan Upper Peninsula. MORE

Spaces in Between - Les Cheneaux, Part II

A common thread binding many of the great natural areas together is their relative anonymity. For example, how do you know Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska other than by Mount McKinley? Even expansive national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite attract throngs to a relatively minute portion of their total acreage. The 95/5 rule runs true (95% of park visitors use 5% of the land). As nature tourists we are habituated to the formal interpretive facilities that are provided (roads, visitors centers, boardwalks). Tens of thousands drive to the pinnacle of Pike’s Peak, but how many hike? MORE

Les Cheneaux Nature Tourism Strategy (1.03MB)

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