Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes October 20, 2026

 

The Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was established, along with the park, by an Act of Congress on October 27, 1992. The seven-member commission is mandated to operate in support of the varied activities of Keweenaw National Historical Park, while acting as a conduit between the park and its neighboring communities.

Quarterly Public Meeting
Keweenaw NHP Headquarters
August 20, 2026

Present:

Commissioners:

• Glenn Anderson, State of Michigan (President)

• Gerald Juntunen, Commissioner, at-large (Vice President)

• Dan Jamison, at-large (Treasurer)

• Karin Cooper, Houghton County (Secretary)

• Thomas Helppi, Calumet Township

Executive Director

• Sean Gohman

National Park Service (NPS)

• Denice Swanke, Isle Royale National Park

• Amber Kraft, Keweenaw National Historical Park

• Anne Lewellen, Keweenaw National Historical Park

• Karl Dietsler, Keweenaw National Historical Park

Absent:

• Mary Sears, Franklin and Quincy Townships

• Karin Cooper, Houghton County (Secretary)

 

Decisions and Announcements

• The Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget for the Advisory Commission was approved.

• The Commission voted to join the Miscowaubik Club as a Corporate Member for 2027.

• The 2027 Keweenaw Heritage Grant cycle was announced with a minimum of $125,000 on offer. Dates of note to be found under Executive Director’s Report (B.2).

A.1. Call to Order

A regular meeting of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was opened at 1:01 p.m., Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

A.2. Introductions

Guests:

• Gina Nicholas, KORC

• Jean Ellis, Keweenaw Heritage Center

• Nate Jones & Rylee Foreman, Calumet Theatre

• Gaylord Faull, QMHA

• Doug Terrell, HCHS

• Adrienne Detanico, IRKPA

A.3. Approval of Agenda for October 20, 2026

Motion made by Jamison to approve. Seconded by Juntunen. Motion carried (5/0).

A.4. Approval of Minutes of July 14, 2026

Motion made by Jamison to approve minutes. Seconded by Helppi. Motion carried (5/0).

B.1. Superintendent and Staff Report

• Denice Swanke, Superintendent of Isle Royale National Park, attended on behalf of the National Park Service.

  • Noted a successful summer for the park, even without a Superintendent.

  • Waiting on the Superintendent posting. Should be any day now. Once opened, three content experts will review applicants to recommend for interviews. Those interviews will be conducted by two NPS staff of equal or greater rank to the position, as well as the Executive Director of the Advisory Commission (Gohman).

  • An Administrative Officer position shared with Isle Royale NP is also awaiting posting.

• Staff reports were offered for the Interp & Education, Museum & Curation, and Landscape Architecture programs. These are attached to the end of this document.

B. 2. Executive Director’s Report

Budget

• Our funding agreement paperwork for FY27 ($150,000) was accepted and awarded late September. This is an increase from the $115K expected. We will still need to identify a funding source to receive the remaining $100,000 to put towards projects later in 2027.

• $150,000 is more than we usually get for operations (usually between $110-125k).

Heritage Grant Updates

• Moving up the dates a few weeks this next cycle due to travel and May being too busy for everyone to do the evaluations, etc. Also moving up start date to give more time to hone these applications/consult with applicants.

• Amount on offer TBD, but minimum $115k.

  • Announce today and post online this week.

  • Applications Due: Friday, February 26, 2027 – by 5:00pm

  • Awards Announced: Wednesday, April 21, 2027

  • Funds Available: Friday, May 7, 2027

  • Project Completion Date: Friday December 29, 2028 (no later than)

  • Project Reports Due: Friday February 9, 2029

Quincy Smelter Operations

• $2,316 spent on utilities this fiscal. $690 this past quarter.

  • The UPPCO meter was removed from inside the fence but still have power at the office.

• The park’s day-labor crew worked down there this summer to do masonry repair and install more Plexiglas windows on the plywood window panels. More natural light means less reliance on electricity. Invoices for supplies ($51,894.40) came in weekly from the crew, with equipment rental accounting for over half that expense.

• UPEA is providing recommendations and status reports for the smelter’s electrical infrastructure.

  • A 50% draft report is in hand and awaiting comment from NPS staff.

  • This baseline document will help guide future planning and work at the smelter, and work towards bringing the site up to code for potential development.

• Hoping to have new smelter intro sign installed before Memorial Day.

• A draft of the Historic Resources Study of the smelter has been reviewed. A final document will not be completed as this project was DOGE’d during the draft phase. The draft will have to do.

• Haunted Halloween event taking place 29^th- 31^st. This is a last minute change with QMHA and MTU.

Completed and Ongoing Projects for FY26

• School Bus grant program: $410 reimbursed last quarter.

  • $3,428 spent on the program this fiscal year.

  • Already approved five trips this fall.

• Working with KEWE Interp team on guidebook focused on the Heritage Sites for potential sale in Visitor Center and gift shops (ongoing). We may finally have someone to produce this!

• Working on a content creation project with Alexis Dahl to tell the story of the park and heritage sites. Rough cut is complete. Published cut ready for Spring.

  • Considering making another on the Heritage Sites program to follow up.

• Worked with Kasey Koski on a large-scale art piece for the smelter to be installed next summer. Artwork is complete and stored at the smelter now, with concrete base in place near the water. Just need to install next spring/summer.

• Advised QMHA on installation of Phase II of an interpretive trail from shaft rockhouse to locomotive house. Work began last week and will remit our portion of the payment upon completion.

• Closed out Bring Back Calumet pledge of $5,000.

• Closed out KBIC pledge of $10,000. KBIC funds used to help Tribal Historic Preservation Office.

Travel

• 2027 planned conference trips (no flights needed):

  • Lansing for MHPN (May 13-15)

  • Cincinnati for VAF (May 20-22, would take vacation time between MHPN and VAF)

  • Madison for AASLH (late September)

Action Items

• Copper Country Preservation, Inc (our non-profit arm) is continuing its fiduciary arrangement with the Miscowaubik Club as it restructures and pushes for new membership.

  • We have received $16,000 in donations on the Club’s behalf this summer, which can be used as a 1-1 match with a recently awarded Keweenaw Heritage Grant.

• Working with Bring Back Calumet preservation of buildings (Ruppe Block).

• Unless recruited for the advisory committee for the new governing body, the Commission is no longer involved in the Keweenaw Heartlands project.

• Sitting on the Copper Country Scenic Byway committee (ongoing).

• Working with KORC and others on a plan for conservation at the historic Cliff Mine.

  • Volunteer trail clean up day Thur (22^nd) starting at 10am.

• Working with the Society for Industrial Archeology and the Mining History Association to put on 2027 joint conference based in Houghton but visiting sites all over the Keweenaw.

  • Dates are: June 2-6 at Michigan Tech.

  • Tour stops and events have mostly been decided.

• Fall Heritage Sites meeting was held October 7th. 16 Heritage Sites participated.

  • Proposing 4 sites meetings for 2027 to reduce the length of meetings and make them more focused: Winter social in February; Spring afternoon meeting focused on Site plans for the summer; Summer workshop session with NPS; Fall afternoon meeting focused on Site reports.

• Exploring a Mellon Foundation “Humanities in Place” grant with MTU, KBIC, and possibly others.

• Working with DNR on two heritage trail projects:

  • Copper Heritage Trail from Hancock to Lake Linden to Calumet and back.

  • Transforming the Bill Nicholls Trail into a State-recognized multi-use heritage trail.

B.3. Financial Reports

A. Budget/Finance

Bills to be Approved: $58,282.27

• Mostly on smelter safeing work (close to $50k out of the $150k AML funding)

• Some on school trip/bus reimbursements and smelter utilities.

• $1,471 spent on meetings and supplies (QuickBooks subscription making up the majority of that).

• Zeroed out commissioned artwork account ($8,507.94 spent, but $5,000 is being reimbursed from IRKPA).

  • Motion to approve billing in the amount of $58,282.27 made by Juntunen and seconded by Jamison. Motion carried (5/0).

• Payroll and Tax: $20,461.21

  • Motion to approve payroll and tax payments in the amount of $20,461.21 made by Ranville and seconded by Jamison. Motion carried (5/0).

B.4. Commission Business and Requests

Miscowaubik Club involvement.

• The commission has discussed joining the Miscowaubik Club as a corporate member in order to strengthen the relationship and become more involved in the preservation and use of the historic club.

• Motion made by Jamison and seconded by Ranville to join the club as a corporate member for 2027. Discussion related to rethinking membership due to conflicts of interest IF/WHEN the club became a Keweenaw Heritage Site.

• Motion carried (5/0).

FY2027 Operating Budget.

• Motion made by Juntunen and seconded by Jamison to approve the year’s operating budget of $150,000, including $25,000 of which to be applied to this year’s Keweenaw Heritage Grant program.

• Motion carried (5/0).

B.5. Commissioner Reports

Commissioner Ranville discussed the Village of Calumet’s DDA desiring a rethink and redevelopment of Agassiz Park. Also stated that the Village will begin enforcing its Blight Ordinance.

C.1. Comments from legislators or legislative staff

None attended.

C.2. Comments from Keweenaw Heritage Site representatives

Nate Jones, Calumet Theatre

• Dan Jamison now serving as Executive Director.

• Riley Foreman hired as Technical Director.

• New bookkeeper hired as well.

• New upgrades to lighting, soundboard, and CAT6 cabling means improved A/V and visitor experience.

• The new self-guided tour is working well. It is needed due to a lack of docents during the day.

• Recent donations have been received to address tuck pointing and bathroom renovation needs.

• The theatre is looking to ad a new epoxy floor to the boiler room in near future.

Gaylord Faull, Quincy Mine Hoist Association

• Visitorship was down 12% but receipts are level with last year due to increase in tour price.

• Completing structural repairs on the 1918 Hoist House (3-year project).

• RV parking extension added north of the gift shop.

• Flag pole was placed atop the No. 2 Shaft rockhouse this summer.

Jean Ellis, Keweenaw Heritage Center

• Invited all to see their most recent exhibit on display about the development of the St. Anne’s Church’s congregation.

• Working on making the org financially sustainable. Getting there, but the need for a new roof will keep this from being achieved until addressed ($250k-400k project).

C.3. Comments from the public

Adrienne Detanico, IRKPA

• IRKPA is now highlighted as a Copper Shores Giving Tuesday non-profit.

• Getting ready for several upcoming events: Trunk or Treat, Poor Artists Sale, Home for the Holidays at the Rosza, etc.

• Awarded a Carl Levin research grant to MTU student.

Gina Nicholas, KORC and KCFC

• KORC is holding a volunteer clean-up day at the Cliff Mine Thursday, October 22^nd starting at 10am.

D. Motion to Adjourn

Moved by Ranville and seconded by Jamison at 2:29 p.m. Motion carried (5/0).

Next public meeting to be held Wednesday January 13, 2027. Will take place at 1:00pm at Keweenaw NHP Headquarters.

 

Interpretation & Education Update

Staffing updates

• The I&E seasonal staff finished up on October 17

• Part-time position with our cooperating association IRKPA that will help with winter VC staffing as well as other projects

• Winter Conservation Legacy intern to help with a variety of projects

Visitor Center operations & ranger programs

• The visitor center is open 10am-2pm Friday & Saturday through Dec. 19

Summer highlights:

• Daily Calumet Unit ranger guided programs

• Once a week evening Quincy Unit programs- mostly at the Dry House Ruins and Smelter (6:30 pm)

• Many Fishing and Birding programs in partnership with the Keweenaw- Calumet Sportsman’s Club

• Sunday afternoon talks on the 3^rd floor of the Visitor Center connected to the temporary WWI exhibit.

• Volunteer workdays this summer at several sites including PM&S, and CopperTown Mining Museum

• Park staff partner with IRKPA this summer to participate in community events including Bridge Fest, Strawberry Festival, and Pasty Fest.

• Park Staff have joined Heritage Site partners at many events including:

  • Quincy- Heritage Day

  • Old Victoria- National Trails Day & Log Cabin day & Craft Fair Day

  • Copper Range Historical Society- July 4

• Welcomed 13,841 visitors to the Calumet VC this FY (11/14- 9/30)

• 980 visitors joined in on ranger programs this FY.

Upcoming programs I&E projects Winter project highlights:

• October 24, 3-5 pm- Participate in Main Street Calumet’s Trunk or Treat in partnership with IRKPA

• November 12, 10am- 6pm -With IRKPA, we will participate in Main Street Calumet’s Ladies Day Out and have the visitor center open for extended hours

• Christmas in Calumet is the first 3 Saturdays in December and we are going to work on programing around that.

• TRACES Online- work continues. Working with park staff and partners on finishing all learning modules that have been started.

• Hope to add 2 self-guided walking tours to the NPS App. One focusing on the Quincy Dry House Ruins and the artwork there done by Kasey Koski and the other of downtown Calumet

  • Also hope to review the content for the self-guided tour on the app for Quincy and the Calumet Industrial Core to see if they need any updates

• Will work on our 2027 Keweenaw Guide (park newspaper)

• Work to finalize updates to the Industrial Core Walking Tour booklet produced by IRKPA

• Work with the Commission, our heritage site partners and IRKPA on a new guidebook. Once done, it will be a great resource for area visitors helping to tie together the story of Keweenaw copper and how the park and the heritage sites tell that full story.

• New interpretive sign for the Quincy Smelter to replace the outdated one at the gate.

Lake Superior Collections Management Center

General Museum Work:

We are continuing to accession and catalog museum donations for Keweenaw (KEWE) and Isle Royale (ISRO). We have recently accessioned some photos and info about the commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the Italian Hall disaster. We finalized the donation of a brass C&H railroad clock. We formally accessioned Ira Pemberthy’s WWI uniform that is on display in the VC.

We conducted our annual museum inventory for all three parks.

Our staff is performing weekly and monthly cleaning of all museum storage and exhibit spaces -including lots of cluster flies on the windowsills. Right now we are changing out insect pest traps and counting and identifying insects caught. We also download dataloggers that track temperature and relative humidity and analyze the data to ensure environmental conditions are in the acceptable range.

Our one seasonal museum tech will be leaving in late October but our vacancy announcements for summer 2027 should be advertised in mid-November.

Currently working on Warehouse Rehab project Section 106 compliance to submit to the State Historic Preservation Office and consultation with Tribes. No update on project funding at this time.

Research Requests:

Archivist Jeremiah Mason has answered approximately 233 research requests so far this year for all three parks, including 87 at the park and the rest remotely.

Archival Collection Processing:

Our archives technician has been flattening and re-housing C&H maps and plans and Village of Laurium maps and working on a few smaller collections. Her season ends in late October.

We still have six regular volunteers who assist with scanning photos, cataloging library and reference materials and other museum projects.

Isle Royale:

We are continuing to receive moose bones from the predator-prey study conducted by Michigan Tech as they clean and analyze them. Our American Conservation Experience intern has been here since January – she’s continued to organize the Isle Royale moose bones by individual; she has boxed what we have from approximately 2372 individuals (in 727 boxes) so far. She will be ending her term in early November.

I finalized the museum section of the ISRO Structure Fire Plan, including numerous appendices about emergency contact info, local vendors, local supplies in-house, and info sheets about buildings where collections are stored or on exhibit.

Partner / Heritage Site Work:

We answered some questions via email.Jeremiah ran some archival collections through the wei’ to freezer to kill pests and deactivate mold.

We’ve taken in and cleaned Village of Laurium historic documents for a custodial loan.

Upcoming Work:

The Scientist in Park participant began yesterday. This person will assist in tracking down natural history research (data, field notes, photographs) conducted at Isle Royale and Pictured Rocks and also locate natural history specimens that may be at universities and other agencies.

Jeremiah is interviewing for our winter NCPE archives intern.

Our researchers at the Keweenaw History Center are starting to decline for the season but we still have lots of decisions to make about donation offers, then the process of accessioning and cataloging.

We are continuing the Deaccessioning or Disposition process for historic but broken chairs, file cabinets and office chairs.

We are trying to get items out of the warehouse in anticipation of the rehab project.

Anne is traveling to Effigy Mounds National Monument (NE Iowa) in early November to help the park pack their museum collections for an upcoming rehab project. Assisting with this sort of project helps staff improve their museum handling and packing skills, shares information with NPS colleagues, and learn how other parks store collections. We regularly help each other in the Midwest Region with short projects like this – a team of 6 people came and helped at Keweenaw last June for a week.

Landscape Architecture Program (August-October)

Overview:

The historical landscape architecture program has continued to evolve over the past year, to include community outreach and meetings with local and state government officials, continuing technical support for our park partner sites, cultural and natural resource project work, and supporting other Keweenaw NHP programs.

Local Community Outreach

• Serving as the Calumet Village Historic District Commission architectural advisor, in support of ongoing community building and landscape rehabilitation projects

• Meeting with the Downtown Development Association to begin conversations on stewardship and historic rehabilitation of Agassiz Park short and long term

• Meeting with Bring Back Calumet to discuss continuing options to rehabilitate the historic Ruppe Mercantile Building

State/Regional Outreach

• Introduction to the Copper Country Scenic Byway group and understanding its role towards planning in our local and regional tourism.

• Introduction to the Michigan DNR Heritage Trail Program. A working group is developing ideas and goals for the Copper Heritage Trail, which would be a non-motorized trail between Hancock and Lake Linden. This group is also exploring ideas and goals to develop the existing Bill Nichols motorized/multi-use trail into a Heritage Trail between McKeever and Houghton. Next steps are two public meetings to be held in late Spring, 2027.

Technical SupportQMHA

• Phase II Accessible Trail project:

  • Contract has been awarded to Wuebben Construction; construction is expected to occur this month between the Shaft-Rockhouse No. 2 and the Quincy & Torch Lake Engine House.

  • Work is expected to partially occur on the Phase III segment, between the Engine House and the boiler house/1918 Hoist House.

  • Developing a Phase III Accessible Trail existing grades concept plan to explore opportunities and constraints.

Old Victoria Mine

• Emerald Ash Borer Infestation:

  • Nearly pure stands of American Ash (Fraxinus americana) are currently dead or dying and are life and property (historic buildings) hazards.

  • Facilitating communication with trained fallers at DNR and Isle Royale staff to keep ahead of the situation.

  • Emerald Ash Borer first established itself in the Upper Peninsula in 2005, and then on the Keweenaw Peninsula between 2008-2011.

  • A benefit of widespread tree removal at this location is to recreate the visual and spatial characteristics of the historic landscape during its period of significance.

Keweenaw County Historical Society/Eagle Harbor Lighthouse

• Outdoor visitor route planning:

  • Ideas generation for a preferred outdoor visitor route and specifications for sidewalk replacement, while accounting for any potential existing historical circulation walkways and patterns identified in historic U.S. Coast Guard site plans.

National Park Identification and Partner Site Wayfinding Signs

• Park Identification signs are nearing the end of their life cycle.

• Several Park Partner Sites have reported either needing additional Motorist Guidance and Wayfinding Signs or have reported missing wayfinding signs.

• Objective: Update the 2005-2010 KEWE NHP Motorist Guidance & Wayfinding Plan this winter to improve sign standardization, consistency, and sign locations across all partner sites. Updating the Keweenaw NHP sign plan

KEWE Landscape StewardshipVolunteer workdays support

• Street trees drip line weeding and mulching around Park Headquarters, the History Center, Calumet Village Triangle, and Italian Hall.

• Selective tree pruning in all four locations.

• Vegetation control around the C&H Dry House and Drill Sharpening Shop.

Great Lakes Invasive Plant Management Team

• Team deployment between 15-19 July

• Treated approximately 2.4 acres on the Quincy Dry House No. 2 Parcel

• Have reached out to four partner sites (Hanka, Painesdale, Old Victoria, Central). Two responded (Painesdale and Old Victoria).

• Looking to expand the program.

Visitor Center parking lot redesign and repaving

• Phase I is complete, with the parking lot lines restriped in July and seasonal concrete wheelstops installed in August. The purpose is to create safer traffic control and ingress/egress to the lot in preparation for the redesign.

• Calumet Village has authorized access in their right of way along Scott and 5^th Street for sidewalk and associated lot construction.

• This project is expected to be in contracting for FY ’27, with construction in FY ‘28

Abandoned Mines & Lands/Investment Recovery Act Fund Sources

• Superior Boilerhouse Smokestack temporary safeing repairs

  • QMHA facilitated contracting between Calumet Township (owner) and UPEA for structural engineering inspection and recommendations for temporary and permanent repairs. Current funding only allows temporary repairs at this point.

  • Bi-weekly meetings with AML to discuss current funding status (none) and consultation with remaining park projects.

Upcoming potential projects

Russell Snowplow, last remaining segment of Calumet & Hecla railroad track:

• Rehabilitate and repair the railroad right of way

• Rehabilitate, repair, and repaint the snowplow