About IRKPA

For more than 80 years, people from across the U.S. and around the world have traveled to Isle Royale National Park to fish the cold waters of Lake Superior, backpack the wilderness trails, kayak or canoe the rocky shorelines or inland lakes, study the park's wolves and moose, watch the northern lights, and soak in the quiet and solitude of the island. The park will celebrate its 85th anniversary on April 3, 2025!

Keweenaw National Historical Park, located within a short drive of the Isle Royale Headquarters, joined the National Park System in October, 1992. It celebrates the endeavors of immigrants from nations across Europe who came to the rugged Keweenaw Peninsula to mine its rich copper veins, log its majestic white pines, and eke out a living from its rocky soil.

The Isle Royale & Keweenaw Parks Association (IRKPA) was founded in 1957 as the Isle Royale Natural History Association (which remains the legal name) and received IRS designation as a nonprofit public charity in 1963. In 1998, IRKPA became the cooperating association for Keweenaw National Historical Park and began using the assumed (“doing business as”) name of Isle Royale & Keweenaw Parks Association along with a new logo representing both parks in 2008.

As a membership-based nonprofit organization, IRKPA invites YOU to join us. Help us to share the stories of these two very special parks with park visitors, school children, and people around the world.