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DNR outlines park usage, fisheries, wildlife, staffing and outreach; committee members ask about licenses, officers and wolves
Summary
Deputy DNR Director Shannon Lott and staff gave the committee an overview of department programs — state parks, fisheries, wildlife, forest management, enforcement and education — and answered members’ questions on license revenue splits, conservation officer staffing, the recreation passport and wolf management.
Deputy Director Shannon Lott and the Department of Natural Resources briefed the House Committee on Natural Resources and Tourism on the agency’s operations, resource management and public outreach, telling members that the department manages state parks, fisheries, wildlife, forests and enforcement and that usage has increased substantially since 2020.
Lott said the department employs about 1,800 permanent staff and hires roughly 1,200 seasonal workers each year. She told the committee Michigan manages 103 state parks (nearly 104, pending Flint State Park) that collectively draw about 36 million visitors annually. “Belle Isle has 4,600,000 visitors a year,” Lott said, citing the park as among the most visited state parks in the country.
On fisheries, Lott and fisheries chief Randy…
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