By Jeff Rennicke, Executive Director of Friends of the Apostle Islands

When the trails of the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve lead you to the shoreline, look out to the horizon. What you see is not just the Apostle Islands but America’s gift to the world.

Since March 1, 1872, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law not only America’s but the world’s first national park, the national park idea has spread to over 100 nations — South Africa where lions prowl and elephants gather in Kruger National Park, the crystal waterfalls lacing the cliffs of Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park, the sandstone pillars of China’s Zhangjiajie National Park, the Komodo dragons of Komodo National Park in Indonesia…