Shortly after 3pm today, Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the four state park funding bills –known collectively as the Recreation Passport — into law.

The Department of Natural Resources is now working on Question & Answer sheets  that explain the effects of this new fundamental change in how our Michigan state parks as well as state forest recreation, are funded.

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.

Read the entire editorial

I typically am not one to write holiday-themed columns, but I do want to say thank you this week to the legislators in the Michigan Senate for having the wisdom to pass the Michigan State Parks Passport legislation last week.

It is a smart idea that has real potential for mitigating, if not solving, Michigan’s state park funding problems.

The legislation is only halfway home. It needs to be voted on by the state House and signed by the governor to take effect.

Read the entire column

During the November 12th Senate session, Senator Patty Birkholz spoke of the critical importance of our state parks. Here is her speech as recorded in the Senate Journal:

This summer in June, our Michigan Department of Natural Resources celebrated an important milestone—the 90th anniversary of the Michigan State Park Commission. This 10-person commission was created by the Michigan Legislature in 1919 to begin to forge the foundation of our state park system.

You know, today wherever you are in Michigan, you are never more than a one-hour drive from a state park. Many state parks are recreation areas and are open all year long offering four seasons of recreation from snowshoeing and hiking to skiing and kiteboarding. Twenty-two million annual visitors visit our state parks, generating $650 million in economic benefit to our local communities.

State parks provide low-cost, high-quality recreational opportunities for all Michigan citizens, especially in these tough times. It is important that we maintain these opportunities because all is not well with our state parks system on this 90th anniversary.

Earlier, I outlined the collapsing buildings, the collapsing bridges, the outdated and, in some cases, illegal infrastructure systems, and the lack of care for our natural resources. But this morning, I would like to thank you for helping to save our citizens 60 percent of the cost of their entry into a state park and for helping to reform something we have all been talking about—our state parks operations in this state.

We now have recreational opportunities for our constituents to continue once these bills pass the House and final passage in the Senate. I would like to congratulate you in supporting and maintaining a healthy, vibrant park system for another 90 years. May we all keep in mind that the natural resources of this state and the citizens’ access to these resources are our responsibility as legislators to protect.

With the passage of this important bipartisan package of bills, we can maintain our strong commitment to our irreplaceable natural resources that fuel both our souls and provide opportunity for recreation while supporting our local economies.

When a bipartisan group of legislators introduced a proposal last March to provide badly needed funds for Michigan’s state park system, we thought the idea had a lot of merit.

After languishing in Lansing for months, the state Senate last week approved legislation which would give Michigan drivers unlimited access to state parks by paying an additional $10 for their vehicle registration.

For regular park users, that is quite a deal compared to the current $24 charge for an annual park pass.

More importantly, however, the plan would provide millions of dollars for infrastructure repair and maintenance of Michigan’s magnificent state parks.

Read the entire article

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

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.

A license proposal that would charge Michigan drivers an optional $10 on license plate renewals could provide a great deal of new funding for Michigan State parks.

“What we’ve been hearing (is) as soon as they get through the budget, they plan to take it up,” said DNR Director Rebecca Humphries. “I don’t know if they’ll try and run it concurrent or they’ll wait until they get through the budget process

“It was the Citizens Parks Advisory Committee that really looked at a number of different funding models and they’ve been really the pushers and movers behind this legislation,” Humphries said. “They went out and got the bill sponsors for it and they’ve been really advocating for this whole Parks Passport System.”

Read the entire article

Rob and Danetta Johnson drove to the area from their Flint home to rest and relax at Forks State Forest Campground along the Boardman River.

They found the gate locked, and a notice said the state couldn’t afford to fund the eight-site campground this year. Disappointed, the Johnsons instead drove to town and set up camp at Traverse City State Park.

"The parks are here for everyone, so long as they’re not closing them," Rob Johnson said.

Read the entire article