pdkpotocki
04-28-2006, 08:33 PM
ERIC SHARP: Our great state parks need a financial boost
April 28, 2006
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A few years ago, Rick Jameson, the late executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, stopped to use a pit toilet at a rest area along M-28 on the Lake Superior shoreline near Marquette.
Before returning to the car he spent a few minutes looking around the rest stop, a few acres of woods and grass-covered dunes where creaming breakers washed onto the beach under a robin's egg sky. Jameson grinned and said, "You know, in Ohio this would be a pretty good state park."
It was only a slight exaggeration. I've visited state parks all over the country, and Michigan's system might be the best and certainly is in the top three. We not only have a lot of state parks and recreation areas (97), most of them are big enough to give city dwellers at least the simulation of a wilderness experience.
An annual sticker that allows access to all of the state parks costs $24, one of the best bargains in America and a big savings over the daily entrance fee of $6. The sticker gives access to 260,000 acres of land, 142 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and 462 miles of shoreline on rivers and inland lakes.
Even if you live in our biggest cities, a state park is never more than about 45 minutes away, something that probably going will be even more important as people look for recreation that doesn't require burning a lot of expensive gasoline. Ten parks are less than an hour from downtown Detroit.
Last week, General RV, a recreational vehicle dealer with six locations in Michigan, started a program that will give a free state parks annual sticker to the first 250 people who buy an RV. General RV paid the state $6,000 for the stickers, figuring that encouraging people to use their trailers and motor homes eventually will get them to buy newer and bigger units.
But the parks need help. Money from the state's general fund has dried up, and it took an increase in camping fees to make sure the parks could meet their $41-million operating budget through 2007.
The state Department of Natural Resources, which runs the parks, wants to resurrect the Michigan State Parks Foundation as part of a program to put the parks on a stable financial footing. That would make a lot of sense.
Meantime, if you've put off buying your annual state parks sticker, why not do it this weekend? And if you haven't been to a park for a while, or ever, why not visit one and see what a bargain you get?
With that sticker, a little camping gear and a few tanks of gas, you can have the kinds of fun and experiences all year that would cost people in other parts of the country hundreds of dollars for a single weekend.
April 28, 2006
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A few years ago, Rick Jameson, the late executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, stopped to use a pit toilet at a rest area along M-28 on the Lake Superior shoreline near Marquette.
Before returning to the car he spent a few minutes looking around the rest stop, a few acres of woods and grass-covered dunes where creaming breakers washed onto the beach under a robin's egg sky. Jameson grinned and said, "You know, in Ohio this would be a pretty good state park."
It was only a slight exaggeration. I've visited state parks all over the country, and Michigan's system might be the best and certainly is in the top three. We not only have a lot of state parks and recreation areas (97), most of them are big enough to give city dwellers at least the simulation of a wilderness experience.
An annual sticker that allows access to all of the state parks costs $24, one of the best bargains in America and a big savings over the daily entrance fee of $6. The sticker gives access to 260,000 acres of land, 142 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and 462 miles of shoreline on rivers and inland lakes.
Even if you live in our biggest cities, a state park is never more than about 45 minutes away, something that probably going will be even more important as people look for recreation that doesn't require burning a lot of expensive gasoline. Ten parks are less than an hour from downtown Detroit.
Last week, General RV, a recreational vehicle dealer with six locations in Michigan, started a program that will give a free state parks annual sticker to the first 250 people who buy an RV. General RV paid the state $6,000 for the stickers, figuring that encouraging people to use their trailers and motor homes eventually will get them to buy newer and bigger units.
But the parks need help. Money from the state's general fund has dried up, and it took an increase in camping fees to make sure the parks could meet their $41-million operating budget through 2007.
The state Department of Natural Resources, which runs the parks, wants to resurrect the Michigan State Parks Foundation as part of a program to put the parks on a stable financial footing. That would make a lot of sense.
Meantime, if you've put off buying your annual state parks sticker, why not do it this weekend? And if you haven't been to a park for a while, or ever, why not visit one and see what a bargain you get?
With that sticker, a little camping gear and a few tanks of gas, you can have the kinds of fun and experiences all year that would cost people in other parts of the country hundreds of dollars for a single weekend.