• Lake Superior in a stormy mood. Photo copyright Craig Blacklock

    Pictured Rocks

    National Lakeshore Michigan

Air Quality

This aerial view of Spray Falls and the Pictured Rocks cliffs was taken from a small airplane. 
Spray Falls
NPS photo by Karen Gustin

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is designated a Class II area under the Clean Air Act. An assessment based on lichen flora and elemental analysis suggested that air quality in the vicinity is quite good.

Although large-scale heavy industry is quite distant from the lakeshore, some long range/global atmospheric transport of pollutants to the lakeshore area has been documented. Acid deposition in the central Upper Peninsula is a well-established phenomenon. Long-range transport of toxics/pollutants has apparently influenced other remote park units in the region more than PRNL.

No baseline information exists on any ambient air quality parameter within the lakeshore boundary. There is an ozone monitoring station at Marquette, Michigan, 75 km (45 miles) to the west.

Did You Know?

Dune grass thrives on the Grand Sable Dunes near Grand Marais, Michigan, in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

On October 6, 1972, ceremonies in Munising marked the establishment of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, America's first national lakeshore. To symbolically link the park's two gateway communities of Munising and Grand Marais, water was poured from two glass containers into a third. More...