Isle Royale National Park - Environmental Factors

Isle Royale National Park by National Parks Service

On a clear day from the Ojibway fire lookout you can see miles in every direction. The wind does not stop. The sturdy steel structure sings and creaks with each strong gust. To the west is Sargent Lake. To the north is Canada. To the South is the Rock Harbor lighthouse (circa 1855) nearly 2 miles away. Like the more modern lookout, the old light was built to warn of danger.

Inside the humble little shack atop the tower are an incongruous variety of solar powered high tech gadgets. Some carefully monitor the air quality, some record weather data. This is much more than a fire lookout; it is in fact the most isolated atmospheric monitoring station in all of the National Park Service.