OurMichiganParks.org

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Earlier, I outlined the collapsing buildings, the collapsing bridges, the outdated and, in some cases, illegal infrastructure systems, and the lack of care for our natural resources.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.

From the Battle Creek Enquirer:

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

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!

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.