DNR: State parks rely on user fees, face large infrastructure backlog despite recent ARPA and private support

Chief Ron Olson, chief of parks and recreation for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Natural Resources that state parks rely heavily on user fees and face an infrastructure backlog that the department is addressing with American Rescue Plan Act funds, grants and private donations.

Olson said the department’s “user‑pay” funding model means about 80% of State Park funding comes from the Park Improvement Fund (camping and recreational passport sales), with a park endowment and a small share of the general fund covering the rest. He told the committee the recreational passport is now $14 after a CPI escalator and that the system recorded 38 million state park visitors in 2023, a 43% increase since 2019.

The nut of Olson’s presentation was that while visitation and local economic impacts are large — he cited $53 billion in tourism dollars and $11 billion in boating industry activity in his overview — the park system carries an unmet capital need that includes water and sewer replacements, electrical upgrades and campground renovations. “We’re in the lifelong memory business,” Olson said, adding that maintaining parks supports tourism, local economies and public health.

Olson described funding sources and examples: the Park Improvement Fund and park endowment (partly funded by oil and gas royalties), concessions revenue and modest general fund support. He said ARPA provided roughly $273 million for park rehabilitation projects, the administration proposed $250 million more for system rehabilitation, and the department has used other targeted grants (for example, $3.5 million from the Kresge Foundation for accessibility pilots). He cited specific projects in Genesee County, Belle Isle and other parks, and described work on sewer and electrical systems, accessible kayak launches and restoration of historic structures.

Committee members asked for timelines and local detail. On the Flint/Genesee County project, Olson said the department leased five city parks for 30 years and built an endowment with a $14 million Mott Foundation contribution matched by $23 million from the state and placed with the Flint Community Foundation to generate perpetual revenue for the park. He said river work removing five spillways and two dams was completed as part of phase one, a $15 million investment, and upland improvements bidding was under way with an anticipated upland phase to begin in late spring and parts to be finished by fall.

Olson discussed visitation trends, stewardship and volunteers: the department reported about 1.3 million camp nights (a recent peak of 1.4 million in 2021), 83 harbors of refuge (19 managed by the state), roughly 1,300 boating access sites (the department administers about 1,100), and 13,700 miles of designated trails. He described partnerships with private operators for unique lodging (Explore US investment), with Rivian for charging infrastructure, with the National Guard for heavy equipment labor, and with foundations and local groups for endowments and volunteer stewardship.

Olson also outlined ecological work funded by grants and operations — prairie burns, oak wilt treatment, and hemlock woolly adelgid control — and provided examples of degraded infrastructure such as corroded water pipes and overloaded electrical panels. He said the parks system must spend ARPA allocations by the end of 2026 and described the work as a rolling schedule of projects to minimize access loss while renovating campgrounds and facilities.

Ending: Olson concluded by repeating the value proposition of affordable access: he compared Michigan’s $14 passport to higher fees in other states and urged continued investment to protect parks and the economic benefits they provide.