Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes July 22, 2025

 

Keweenaw National Historical Park Headquarters, Calumet July 22, 2025

Commissioners

Present:

• Karin Cooper, Houghton County (Secretary)

• Thomas Helppi, Calumet Township

• Gerald Juntunen, Commissioner, at-large (Vice President) Andrew Ranville, Village of Calumet

• Dan Jamison, at-large (Treasurer)

Absent:

• Glenn Anderson, State of Michigan (President)

• Mary Sears, Franklin and Quincy Townships

Executive Director

Present:

• Sean Gohman

National Park Service (NPS)

Present:

• Wendy Davis, Superintendent

Decisions and Announcements

• Commission approved new Goals and Objectives for the Advisory Commission.

• Made a pledge to The Nature Conservancy’s Keweenaw Heartlands Fund to create and install a Thank You sign for donors if/when that is approved and designed.

• Pledged to support local efforts to bring the Ontonagon Boulder back to the area and have it installed at Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Visitor Center, via a loan from the Smithsonian Museum.

A.1. Call to Order

A regular meeting of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was opened at 1:01 p.m., Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

A.2. Introductions

Guests:

• Vince Kanthak, Painesdale Mine & Shaft

• Karen Hintz, Keweenaw County Historical Society

• Dean Juntunen and Fern Malia, Ontonagon County Historical Society

• Colette Marie McGlaughlin, Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum

• Adrienne Detanico, Isle Royale and Keweenaw Parks Association

• Bruce Johanson and Jim Maki, Ontonagon County residents

• Lisa Anderson and Chad VanBennekom, Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition

• Jodi Ouellette, Rep. Bergman’s office

• Kasey Koski, commissioned artist and guest

• Graham Jaehnig, Daily Mining Gazette

A.3. Approval of Agenda for July 22, 2025

• Motion made by Ranville to amend minutes to include discussion and voting on new goals and objectives for the commission, and to approve minutes. Seconded by Jamison. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0).

A.4. Approval of Meeting Minutes from April 14, 2025

• Motion made by Jamison. Seconded by Cooper. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0).

B.1. Superintendent’s Report

Operations

• The park continues to operate within the resources allocated.

• The Historical Architect, Facility Manager and Historian positions remain vacant, subject to the Executive Order instituting a hiring freeze.

• Duties are being covered as possible from outside or regional sources, and all park staff have taken on additional responsibilities.

• Several seasonal positions will be coming to completion in the coming weeks.

Visitation

• Visitor numbers at the Calumet Visitor Center continue to increase, on many days double what we have seen before.

• The Visitor Center continues to be open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm through Labor Day. (During September the VC will be open from noon to 4pm)

Projects

• Park staff as well as regional and national AML staff have been working hard to restore funds that had been pulled back.

• Landscape Architect Karl Dietzler is working with Tom and the contractor on the accessible trail project.

• Interpretive Art: Kasey Koski is in Copper Country for the next few weeks and met with Quincy staff, Advisory Commission representative, and park staff to designate exact locations for the interpretive artwork that will be placed at Quincy and at the Quincy Smelter. The bases will be poured early next week and a public event scheduled between July 28-31. Figure designs below:

 

 

Technical assistance fine tuning and accounting

• The park is working on a way to “invoice” for Technical Assistance (with a $0 balance) so those receiving that assistance can track it for in-kind matches for grants and properly account for the NPS capital invested in their various undertakings.

Questions for the Superintendent:

None

B. 2. Executive Director’s Report

Commission Funding

• The commission’s full authorized funding limit ($250,000) has been reached and is in our accounts. $100k minimum is dedicated to our day-to-day operations, with the remainder dedicated to various projects in partnership with the national park and/or heritage sites.

Keweenaw Heritage Grants

• Thirteen grants were awarded in May, with award checks going out soon after.

• $124,880 was awarded.

• One outstanding award is still to be issued.

Quincy Smelter Updates

• The commission and Quincy Mine Hoist Association have updated the interpretive tour for the Quincy Smelter property. New route. New script. A focus will be placed on the process of smelting, as well as the themes of milling, transportation, and labor.

• Improvements to the natural lighting of interior spaces is taking place this summer. Brush clearing and other “curbside appeal” work as well.

• Two art pieces are being installed in the reverb and engine house buildings. More below.

FY25 Planned and Proposed Projects

• Working with the park’s Interp team to develop a Heritage Site “guidebook” for sale in the Visitor Center or other gift shops. No hard date on completion or format yet.

  • Heritage sites will be asked to provide info for inclusion.

• Commissioned artist, Kasey Koski, has developed several new steel statue pieces to be installed on the Quincy Smelter and Quincy Mine tours landscapes later this month and into August.

  • Three are planned for each site. The smelter will have a waving miner near the entrance, a oiler in the engine room, and a furnaceman in the reverberatory furnace building. The mine will have another version of a miner (placement TBD), a coal shoveler in one of the boiler house ruins, and a group of miners leaving (south) from the No. 2 Shaft rockhouse… and connecting to the three miners across the highway traveling TO the shaft from the dryhouse ruins.

  • There are also discussions to add another larger piece on the smelter landscape near the water at the site of the former coal dock on the property. Stay tuned…

Keweenaw Heartlands Project

• I sit on a few committees relate to The Nature Conservancy-owned acreage that was purchased several years ago in Keweenaw County to preserve recreation and traditional uses there.

  • The legislation to create an elected body in Keweenaw County to manage the land has been introduced at the State Legislature. Once passed, elections will take place to populate this board.

  • A fundraising campaign is about to kickoff to help fund that management. Keep on the lookout for materials and events in the coming days and weeks.

Travel Updates

• I attended the Michigan Historic Preservation Network conference in Sault Ste. Marie mid-May. Lots of great updates on historic preservation work going on in the state. Next year’s conference is in the Detroit area, and I’m working with others to develop a presentation on the work going on over the last several years at the Calumet Theatre.

• At the end of May, I traveled to Buffalo, NY for the Society for Industrial Archeology conference. I was invited to speak on my decade-long working relationship with Dr. Pat Martin of MTU. There was an entire morning session devoted to Dr. Martin’s mentorship and influence on the field of Industrial Archaeology and Heritage. The conference tours were also excellent; learning about the industrial history of Buffalo (mostly transportation and grain related).

• The U.P. History Conference took place last month. It was well attended and there were several excellent papers presented. The highlight of the weekend was receiving the Superior Award for history on behalf of the Heritage Site Program during the conference banquet at the Rozsa Center.

  • Several presenters were connected to our heritage sites, and we in the Keweenaw made a great showing at it!

Goals and Objectives for the Advisory Commission

• Over the last several months, the commissioners have worked on updating its mission goals, last set in 2018. These goals are to be voted on during the Requests to Commission portion of the meeting. The newly proposed goals:

  • Continue to Advise the National Park Service/Keweenaw NHP on planning, preservation, and operational matters.

  • Preserve, interpret, and ultimately transfer ownership of the historic Quincy Smelting Works to the National Park Service or appropriate entity.

  • Promote a historic preservation ethic in Keweenaw region through collaboration and education.

  • Develop partnerships that encourage and enhance appreciation of the historic resources of the National Park and Keweenaw region.

  • Work to make the Advisory Commission a sustainable enterprise.

Questions for the Executive Director:

None

B.3. Requests to Commission and Financial Reports

A. Budget/Finance

• Motion to approve billing in the amount of $148,944.92 made by Cooper and seconded by Ranville. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0)
• Motion to approve payroll and tax payments in the amount of $18,346.24 made by Cooper and seconded by Ranville. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0)

B.4. Requests to Commission

A. Bruce Johanson, Ontonagon County. Johanson presented on the history of the Ontonagon boulder and made a request to the commission to support and work actively to “return” the boulder to the Upper Peninsula from the Smithsonian in Washington, where it has been held for decades.

• Discussion revealed that Senators Peters and Slotkin are aware of this effort, as is Rep. Bergman.
• Superintendent Davis informed the room that the park’s Visitor Center has a room at the back of the first floor that is rated to handle the weight of the boulder, and that the building has the proper security to handle a loan of it from the Smithsonian.

• Motion made by Helppi to support a loan of the boulder to the Keweenaw National Historical Park Visitor Center, and work with partners to make that happen. Ranville seconded. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0)

B. Sean Gohman, speaking on behalf of The Keweenaw Heartlands Fund committee. Gohman requested that the commission make a financial pledge of support to the Fund if/when a “Thank You” sign is permitted by the Keweenaw Road Commission for placement on Brockway Mountain or a similar acceptable location.

• The “Thank You” sign would acknowledge donors to the Fund set up to support the management of the Keweenaw Heartlands if/when it is transferred by The Nature Conservancy to an elected board of Keweenaw County for ownership and management.
• Motion made by Cooper to make that pledge, but with no dollar amount yet decided upon. Seconded by Ranville. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0)

C. Ranville motioned to accept the new Goals for the commission and replacing the former set created in 2018 (see Section B.2). Seconded by Helppi. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0)

B.5. Commissioner Reports

A. Ranville announced that the 150^th anniversary for the Village of Calumet is coming up with several events marking it in the coming weeks.

• Cro(atian) Fest August 9-10; Pasty Fest the following weekend; Calumet Street Dance in mid-September.

• The new green space along 5^th street is about to open to the public, and the pavilion at Agassiz park received new bathroom fixtures.

• The DDA-sponsored ‘Welcome to Calumet’ billboard just south of the Village along US 41 will likely be renewed after receiving positive feedback.

• The Ruppe Block project is ongoing through the Bring Back Calumet Fund held by the Keweenaw Community Foundation.

C.1. Comments from legislators or legislative staff

A. Jodi Ouellette, Rep. Bergman’s office, informed the commission of the Representative’s awareness and support for efforts to bring the Ontonagon Boulder back to the Keweenaw Peninsula.

C.2. Comments from Keweenaw Heritage Site representatives

A. Fern Malia, Ontonagon County Historical Society

• The ongoing collections management project is proceeding thanks to a recent Keweenaw Heritage Grant.

• Work is being done on the lighthouse, including furniture restoration.

B. Karen Hintz, Keweenaw County Historical Society

• The lighthouse complex is open seven days a week. Seeing a 20% increase in visitation and seeing about 100 or so visitors a day.

• Preservation work at the lighthouse (parlor) room is ongoing, as is water infiltration mitigation on the lighthouse tower.

• The Fog Signal building will require a new roof (working with NPS to identify the proper solution) and some maintenance on the new doors recently installed thanks to a Keweenaw Heritage Grant from last year.

C. Colette Marie McGlaughlin, Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum

• Hanka Homestead’s “Heritage Day” is Saturday, August 9^th from noon to 4pm. Visitors are invited to take part in demonstrations, take horse ride, meet NPS staff, and take part in dancing during the event.

D. Vince Kanthak, Painesdale Mine & Shaft

• Two new volunteer docents/guides are now on hand, easing the workload.

• A new visitor counter is on site for accurate accounting of visitation.

C.3. Comments from the public

None.

D. Motion to Adjourn

Moved by Ranville and seconded by Jamison at 2:34 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. (5/0).

Next public meeting to be held Tuesday, October 2025. Will take place at 1:00pm at Keweenaw NHP Headquarters regardless of date.