Voyageurs National Park Announces New Park Partner - Jefferson National Parks Association

Date: February 16, 2010
Contact: Tawnya Schoewe, [phone]

Lake States Interpretive Association (LSIA) has been Voyageurs National Park’s cooperating association for the past 34 years. Over the years LSIA managed and oversaw the park’s three visitor center bookstores, helped support the winter interpretive programs, helped support festivals, and helped produce many of the park’s publications. LSIA is a non-profit organization pledged to aid in the interpretation of nature and history in the national parks and national forests of the northern Midwest.

This past fall, LSIA board members decided it was time to close their doors and turn over operating the park’s bookstores to a new association. LSIA was a local organization with board members from International Falls, Twin Cities, Ash River, Crane Lake, and the Grand Rapids area, to name a few. Voyageurs would like to thank all the board members who spent a great deal of their time and talent over the many years to help make Voyageurs a better place and a great experience for visitors.

In 2010, Jefferson National Parks Association (JNPA) will take on the role of being the park’s new cooperating association. JNPA’s home is in St. Louis, Missouri. JNPA currently serves as the cooperating association for the following parks and forests: Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota, Mississippi River Visitor Center in St. Paul, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Ulysses S. Grant in Missouri, National Great River Museum in Illinois, Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, and Lewis and Clark Recreation Area in South Dakota.

With the change over in operation, JNPA will be shutting down the bookstore at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center from January through mid-April 2010. This time will allow JNPA to inventory and evaluate stock and reorganize. The Rainy Lake Visitor Center will stay open Wednesdays through Sundays 10 – 4:30pm. The Rainy Lake Visitor Center bookstore will reopen in mid-April and will be joined by the opening of the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center and Ash River Visitor Center and bookstores on May 22, 2010.

JNPA will offer some of the same publications but also an array of new items that complement the park’s six interpretive themes: water, scenery, people, geology, voyageurs and the fur trade, and plants and animals. Voyageurs is pleased to have a new park partner who will help us create a great experience for visitors coming to Voyageurs. 

-NPS-
Voyageurs National Park – Celebrating 35 years!
1975-2010