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    Keweenaw NHP Vision and Goals

    Vision

    The landscape and interpretive potential of the Keweenaw Peninsula “Copper Country” provide outstanding
    opportunities to observe and understand the multi-faceted and comprehensive historic record of hard-rock
    copper mining that began here 7000 years ago and continued to the 1990s. This mining took place often
    at an immense scale, and in 1991 Congress envisioned a commensurately large partnership between the
    National Park Service, the Keweenaw NHP Advisory Commission, and the numerous communities and public
    history organizations throughout the Copper Country to lead the preservation of this vast cultural landscape
    and develop its interpretive potential; the partnership was to be known as Keweenaw National Historical
    Park.

    The National Park Service (NPS) aims, by the time of the NPS Centennial in 2016, to establish the 15-year
    old Keweenaw National Historical Park as a premier public history consortium, preserving significant historic
    landscape resources and interpreting the diverse stories of mining technology, corporate/human interaction,
    economic cycles, geology and environment, immigration and culture, and the role of copper in human endeavors.

    Long-Term Goals

    PARTNERSHIPS AND SUSTAINED OPERATIONS

    1. By 2017, an organization or network of organizations is well established in raising support for Keweenaw
    NHP (NPS, Advisory Commission, and partners) as demonstrated through annual grants and donations (cash,
    in-kind) equivalent to at least ¼ of the park’s appropriated budget and the doubling of the number of volunteers.
    2. By 2017, through cooperative efforts, visitors to the Keweenaw Peninsula can easily recognize and interpret
    cultural landscapes related to copper mining through well-preserved and interpreted cultural resources,
    to the point that 25% of all visitors to the Keweenaw can describe the significance of the park at the conclusion
    of their visit.

    RESOURCE PRESERVATION

    3. By 2017, a strategy for the long-term protection of nationally and regionally significant copper-mining
    resources on the Keweenaw Peninsula is developed and its implementation initiated, and the Quincy Smelter
    will be stabilized and interpreted to the public. By 2010, the strategy for NPS units is being implemented.

    VISITOR EXPERIENCE

    4. By 2017, visitors can experience a cohesive national park experience along the length of the Keweenaw
    Peninsula, allowing for easy understanding and selection of routes, sites, programs, recreational opportunities,
    and activities related to the copper mining story, while recognizing that multiple partners and missions
    are involved in preservation and interpretation.
    5. By 2017, the General Management Plan goal of providing a traditional national park experience is met in
    the two NPS units of the park through development of a core resource and interpretive experience that anchors
    the national park and partner sites.
    6. By 2017, all NPS and Heritage Site facilities open to the public are accessible, maintain a professional public
    appearance, are compliant with life-safety code, and foster environmentally sustainable practices.

    EDUCATION & INTERPRETATION

    7. By 2017, a program is in place that has every student on the Keweenaw Peninsula experiencing at least
    once in their K-12 schooling an on-site curriculum-based program at the park (including the Keweenaw
    Heritage Sites).
    8. By 2017, visitors year-round may gain an understanding of the park themes through dynamic and diverse
    interpretive opportunities at NPS facilities, including an interpretive experience in every park-occupied building
    and on NPS-owned properties. Partner sites will be approaching a similar result in interpretive media and
    programming.

    PUBLIC HISTORY

    9. By 2017, Keweenaw NHP is nationally recognized and frequently sought out as a prominent and accessible
    source of copper mining history through museum collections, research, and interpretation.

    EMPLOYEE DIVERSITY

    10. By 2017, NPS seasonal employees at Keweenaw NHP will reflect the diversity of the regional universities
    through development of sustained recruitment programs and training opportunities.

    Last updated: February 22, 2023

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    Mailing Address:

    25970 Red Jacket Road
    Calumet, MI 49913

    Phone:

    906 337-3168

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