Bonnie Matuseski, President

My first trip to the Apostle Islands was in 1986 aboard a 26-foot sailboat. Although the trip was filled with adventure and mishaps, we were enchanted by the Islands. The boat grew to 40 feet and we continued to explore the Apostle Islands every summer. A catastrophic engine failure in 1997 marooned us on Madeline Island with two small children and too much time. We discovered a lovely beachfront property on Sunset Bay and it captured our hearts. We were drawn to the quiet beauty of Madeline Island and built a summer home.

In 2010, I received a postcard from the MIWP looking for people to get involved. My years of sailing and exploring the Apostle Islands had given me a profound appreciation for their natural beauty. According to Native American wisdom, we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors — we borrow it from our children. As we live and play on Madeline Island, we have a duty to protect and preserve its natural beauty for future generations. It is to be savored, enjoyed and protected. I am honored to participate in this dynamic and passionate organization.

For over 30 years, I have worked in the practice of anesthesia. The operating room is a sterile, fast-paced, and highly-technical environment. It makes time on Madeline a serene respite from my professional life in Duluth.

Pixie Martin, Vice President

Long before we built our cabin in the woods off South Shore Road, I worked at the Chateau Madeline, waiting tables and growing to love life on the Island. The many friends from that summer more than four decades ago still connect each summer on the Island. The circle has grown and the memories multiplied. Now, a member of the MIWP Board, I have come to appreciate the Island’s beauty even more and our collective need to be stewards of its treasures.   

My professional life has focused on helping others work and live in cultures other than their own. My family and I have lived in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, always returning happily to our Midwest home and time on the Island.

Jane Howard, Secretary

In 1953, my parents toured a dark Mission Inn cottage across from what is now the Madeline Island Golf Club. The cottage had no kitchen, needed work and included one-eighth ownership in the three-story Mission Inn hotel. Despite these challenges, they decided that if they were going to have a piece of paradise, this was it. And it was, and is. I had the great good fortune to spend all my childhood summers on the Island, and then get back for at least one vacation each summer.

Serving on the board of the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve has united my love of the Island with my profession. I worked in the field of my greatest passion — conserving our natural world — as director of Philanthropy for The Nature Conservancy chapter that includes Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. My work office was in Minneapolis on the Mississippi River, so I worked by the greatest river in North America and vacationed on the greatest of the Great Lakes. I retired after 21 years with The Nature Conservancy chapter so I now have more time to enjoy the Island and MIWP activities.

Ned Hancock, Treasurer

Ned Hancock has been visiting Madeline Island with his wife and four children for thirty-five years, and when the last went off to college, he finally had time for North Woods volunteerism. After spending much of his early years in the forested areas of New England, his introduction to this eco-region turned into a life-long love affair. He became a board member in 2011 to help preserve for posterity what he and his family have been so fortunate to have enjoyed.

Ned has spent more than thirty years with 3M in a variety of marketing roles and lives in Edina, MN. He owns a cottage on the South Shore.

Tom Atmore

Tom Atmore joined the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve Board in 2014. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, Tom spent summers sailing in and around the Apostle Islands and visiting Madeline Island. Now living and practicing law in the Twin Cities, Tom and his family have a cabin on Madeline Island where his family lives during the summer months. Tom was drawn to serve on the Wilderness Preserve Board out of his lifelong love for Lake Superior and Madeline Island and a desire to help preserve and protect this amazing area and the magnificent Lake.

Bake Baker

Bake was introduced to Madeline as a one-month-old with his mother washing his diapers on the rocks at Big Bay in the early 1950’s.  Many summers were spent pumping gas at the marina and then deck-handing and piloting on the ferry boats.

Bake and his wife, Lee have two adult sons who spent many mischievous summers with cousins on the island. Bake and Lee recently completed a DIY Great Loop boat trip navigating over 7600 miles of waterways. They love their collection of small rustic cabins on the southwest shore facing Bayfield.

Bake is a recently retired architect. He and his wife live in Afton, MN. 

Kevin Dooley

The Island has been an important part of our family’s leisure-time life for more than 40 years, starting when my young bride and I chanced upon Madeline Island during an October wedding anniversary trip to the Bayfield area. The combined rugged natural beauty of the Island and its “watery neighbor” is a real gift which inspires all of us involved with the MIWP to do our fair share to ensure it will be this way for future generations.

This is my second stint on the MIWP Board having served previously shortly after its inception in the late 1980’s when most of our energy and resources focused on Island interior land acquisitions. Now, I’m keen on helping our current and future members and friends engage more with the Preserve’s trail system for hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing, and attending the frequent scheduled walks and informative speakers programs which we sponsor. The Capser and Meech Trails are our family’s (Daisy the dog included) in-town favorites during any season. Make a visit to our trails and attending our programs a highlight of your next stay on the Island!

Dan Engstrom

I grew up in Duluth Minnesota, and Lake Superior and water in general has always been in my blood. As an environmental scientist and director of the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, an affiliate of the Science Museum of Minnesota, I work with water-quality issues on a daily basis. I was married to Madeline Island (literally) several decades ago in mid-December at the Coffin family cottage on the north end of the Island. Our family was one of the charter members of the Wilderness Preserve, and my wife Barbara, served as its second president until she convinced me to join the board in 1995, so she could step off. I became fifth president of the organization and currently serve as its newsletter editor and general go-to science guy.

Toria Erhart

I grew up on the East coast and spent every summer at my grandmother’s house in Maine right on the edge of Acadia National Park. The park was my first lesson in the beauty and necessity of land conservation. I moved to Minnesota in 1978, came to Madeline Island about five minutes after unpacking, and have been spending time on the island ever since. I joined the MIWP board in 1989 because I truly love Madeline’s open spaces and it would break my heart to see them disappear. My main role on the board has been the very joyous one of planning the Fourth of July parade floats, but somehow in 2011 I also got talked into being president, following in many good footsteps. 

In my other life I have been a primary care doctor at the University of Minnesota for almost 30 years. I am a moderately good birder (I’m half of the team that leads the MIWP spring bird hike), a passionate but mediocre gardener, and I share my life with one daughter, two dogs, two cats, and five chickens.

Tom Kromroy

Our family has owned a home on Madeline Island since 1989.  We enjoy the natural beauty of the Island and I wanted to help preserve this for future generations so I joined the MIWP Board in 1991.  I have served as the Treasurer for 6 years and as the President for 10 years.  

I enjoy spending time at our cabin and boating in the Apostle Islands.

Steve Mueller

I was drawn to Madeline Island because of the quiet and solitude offered by its unique beauty. My family visits the island all year round.  We own a cabin on the northern tip of Madeline, from where we enjoy kayaking, hiking, biking and snowshoeing.

I am committed to the Wilderness Preserve’s mission of preserving this special place for future generations by setting aside many large portions of Madeline Island’s woodlands and bogs. 

I make my living as a  carpenter/contractor in the Minneapolis area.  

I have been a board member of MIWP since 2007.

Marnie Myhre

Madeline Island is a special, unique place. I’d felt that for many years, but in the last year I have come to know it more directly.  I first came to the island as a teenager with my family, and I have enjoyed our family cabin with my siblings for over 30 years. When the land next door came up for sale my husband, Ken, and I followed our dream to spend more time here and we built a home. We are quickly becoming full-time islanders as the lake, woods and community call us here. We feel more engaged and invigorated with each season; we are extremely blessed to be here. As a health professional I have known about and personally experienced the healing power of the natural world. I am now eager to play a new role in preserving this local environment and doing whatever I can to foster connections for others to one of our world’s great natural places.