OurMichiganParks.org

The Recreation Passport legislation, Senate Bills 388 & 389 , were adopted by the full Senate this morning with a vote of 24-11 and  23-12 respectively. Now these bills go to the full House for a vote in the near future.

This is a BIG step forward for sustainable state park funding!

It is expected that Senate bills 388 and 389 for the Recreation Passport will be voted on by the Michigan Senate and House this Thursday, November 12th, 2009.

There is a summary analysis on-line as well. This analysis provides all the details of what these bills would do if passed and signed into law.

We urge you to please contact your state senator and state representative and ask that they support these bills to help fund our state parks.

A recent Arizona report looks at alternative funding options for their state parks. The report, The Price Of Stewardship: The Future Of Arizona’s State Parks, includes the following discussion on license plate fees and how other states have successfully implemented them.

Montana has imposed a surcharge on non-commercial license plates with the revenue going to state parks. In exchange, anyone with a Montana plate is admitted to state parks free of charge, although other fees apply and this is just one source of funding for the state’s parks. The public may opt out of this charge and about 25% choose to do so. Out-of-state park visitors still pay entrance fees. Michigan is considering this idea now, and California has looked at it. The state of Washington moved from a completely voluntary program to an automatic $5 charge, unless someone choose’s to opt out of the “donation.” The funds are “keeping parks open.” Without the dollars, many parks would have been closed.

From campgrounds to boat launches, from roads to trail bridges, our Michigan State Parks have a very substantial amount of  infrastructure.  Its replacement value is approximately $1 billion.

The DNR estimates this infrastructure requires $38 million per year to maintain this infrastruture in good and safe working order. Unfortunately the funding is not available to meet this need. The current funding limits the DNR to primarily dealing with major emergencies such as bridge and building failures.

The DNR has documented these state park infrastructure needs by county. They have also created a PDF slideshow depicting some of the recent park infrastructure issues they are grappling with.