OurMichiganParks.org

From the Herald Palladium:

As recently as 20 years ago, the state general fund covered 70 percent of the cost of Michigan’s state parks. Today, that figure is zero, and as a result, the parks are in real trouble.

Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries says that unless a cash infusion is made soon, some parks will be closed in 2010. A dozen state forest campgrounds were recently closed. Even with the closures, there will still be some $341 million needed for park repairs, buildings, roads and other infrastructure costs that have been put off as the state budget tanked.

The Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks, an advisory group, has come up with a relatively painless way to help end the crisis. Its proposal, now making its way through the Legislature, would allow motorists to pay an extra $10 when they purchased their license plates, which would provide them entrance for a year into state parks. That’s a real bargain since it costs $6 a day or $24 annually to use state parks.

But the best part of the plan is it’s strictly voluntary.

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[Note that these are state forest campgrounds and are not part of the state park system. However, the Recreation Passport proposal would provide funding to help keep these campgrounds open.]

From Howard Meyerson of the Grand Rapids Press:

Twelve state forest campgrounds are slated for closure this month, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials.

The closures come in response to budget cuts sought by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Her executive order this week cut state funding by $221,864,600. The DNR’s budget was cut by $572,900. Granholm sought to trim general fund programs. Only 4 percent of the DNR’s budget comes from state tax dollars.

“No one likes to make cuts, but we have to live in our time,” said Brenda Curtis, the DNR state forest campground program manager. “Everyone is impacted.”

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From Peter Luke’s Blog on M-Live:

All those “Pure Michigan” ads now playing coast to coast on cable television not only counteract the bad PR the state’s economy receives on a daily basis but remind residents why they can be proud of their state.

Pride without stewardship, however, is just as fleeting as a 30-second TV spot. And when state officials and the constituents they represent fail to be good stewards of the assets Michigan is pitching to a national public, the notes the ads try to strike can be false ones.

On a day last week when the federal government announced it was pledging nearly $2.5 million to fund improvements at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Isle Royale National Park, state officials said a Michigan State Park system 90 years old this year is in tatters.

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From the Detroit Free Press Editorial Staff:

Once upon a time — about 20 years ago, but it might as well be back in the dinosaur age — Michiganders covered about 70% of the costs of their state parks through their regular taxes. But no more. As the state’s budget has tightened and tightened, the park system got less and less money. For the last five years, the 98 state parks have received no money at all from the state’s general fund.

This situation has to be rectified. Cliched as it is to talk about publicly owned “jewels,” Michigan’s parks surely belong at the top of that category. They deserve a broad and strong financial underpinning, so no citizen is ever priced out of enjoying the state’s beaches, forests, rivers and camping areas.

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