Michigan’s new method of paying for state park operations and maintenance met its fund-raising goal for the first year and is proving to be reliable, the Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

The DNR said 24.7% of the state’s motorists participated in the license checkoff plan during the last year, just above the goal of 24.3%. Director Rodney Stokes said next year’s goal will be 30%.

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This story was also covered by the Detroit News.

Michigan’s 2011 camping season is shaping up to be a big one. A variety of factors — economic gains, higher gas prices and the introduction of the state’s Recreation Passport option for motorists — have residents making plans to head for Michigan’s campgrounds this year. Reservations at both private and, particularly, state campgrounds such as Algonac State Park are up by as much as 18.5 percent over last year.

Macomb Township resident Tom Bemiss, who got in his first camping trip of the year a weekend ago at Algonac State Park near Marine City, understands completely.

“It’s a cheaper way to go on vacation if you stay within Michigan and don’t have to fly somewhere,” said the 48-year-old plant manager. “Nowadays, if you want to get into a decent campsite … you can’t just wait until a month before you go to book it. It’ll be too late.”

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Q. “I recently renewed my license plate and added the $10 park fee to the renewal. The tabs arrived and I placed them on my vehicle, but there was nothing that I can see that says I purchased the state park pass.

“What distinguishes the state park upgrade from a regular renewal?”

— Tom Barry, Livonia

A. Just to recap: The extra $10 Michigan residents may pay for the “Recreation Passport” replaces the traditional state park sticker that allows them into all state parks, state recreation areas and boat launches.

If you opt for this program, your vehicle registration and license plate tab are your proof of purchase, and your recreation passport is valid during the same period as your vehicle registration.

According to the Secretary of State Office, when you buy a recreation passport, your new tab will have a special “P” printed on it.

You will not receive a separate parks sticker.

I saw a copy of it on the SOS website, www.michigan.gov/sos, and have to admit the “P” looks pretty small. Check your tab. It should be there.

Michigan’s parks and campgrounds are getting a boost from the state’s new Recreation Passport sticker available on vehicle license plates.

Since kicking off in October, more than 325,000 Michigan motorists renewing their license plates have paid an extra $10 ($5 for motorcyclists) for a “P” on their license plate tabs, which offers admission to state parks and recreation areas.

Participation has increased each month, according to the Department of Natural Resources, rising from 17 percent of those renewing license plates in October to 20 percent in December.

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Starting today, Michigan residents renewing their car and truck licenses will have the option of paying $10 for a “recreation passport,” granting them access to all of the state’s parks and boat launches for the year.

Officials are gambling that the option will help maintain the state’s aging and deteriorating parks facilities, which receive no general fund dollars

“We’re hoping residents will make an investment in the great outdoors of Michigan when they go to renew their vehicle registrations,” said Mary Detloff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

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This morning Detroit News published an article on these bills prior to their passage:

“We have not had any general fund support for our parks for almost six years now, and in the meantime the infrastructure continues to deteriorate,” [Senator Patty] Birkholz said. “We’ve barely been able to keep up (with basic maintenance).

“This gives us a way to streamline how we operate our state parks, so that now we can have parks people that were in booths out working in the parks to improve them.”

The state Senate has developed a reasonable compromise on creating a new financing system to help Michigan’s underfunded and deteriorating state parks. The legislation should be approved because it promises to generate more revenue for parks without tricking taxpayers.

Backers of the legislation, led by Republican Sen. Patricia Birkholz of Saugatuck, argue that the combination of a lowered fee and one-stop-shopping aspect of paying while re-registering vehicles will attract more Michiganians and boost revenues for badly needed improvements and repairs to park buildings, roads, water and sewer lines. Seventeen percent of car registration applicants would have to opt in to generate the $11.7 million a year current park fees raise. If 25 percent agreed to the new fee, the parks would get $6 million more a year, and so on.

Michigan’s once-heralded state park system was converted in 2004 to self-financing — supported solely by user fees. This coincided with the state’s long-running recession, and revenue hasn’t kept up with needs.

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Michigan’s still-proud park system is sliding into disrepair, a casualty of state budget cuts, eroding attendance and vanishing funding sources.

Unless reversed, the decline threatens to turn away visitors and close some of the parks. That would endanger not only the state’s quality of life and economic development, but also tourism, one of the state’s leading industries.

Some say that without new funding or higher fees, the problem won’t be fixed soon.

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Five years ago, state park officials in Montana found themselves where Michigan is today: Losing general fund support and taking in inadequate user fees to sustain the state’s park system.

They came up with a novel idea: Do away with windshield stickers and instead charge every motorist $4 for the privilege to visit Montana’s 53 parks. By all accounts, it’s an unqualified success.

“This is a superior system,” said Chas Van Genderen, acting director of Montana state parks.

Some in Michigan are looking to copy that system.

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Five years ago, Montana came up with a new plan to raise money for its state parks and recreation areas.

The Western state dumped its park entrance fees and replaced them with a $4 charge that’s tacked onto the annual cost of vehicle registrations.

It’s been an unmitigated success, raising needed revenue for parks and boosting visits from 1.3 million Montanans in 2002 to 1.9 million last year.

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