The Nature Conservancy in Michigan is calling for the state to use a part of its budget surplus to shore up the Michigan State Park Endowment Fund to help ensure parks infrastructure is well maintained into the future. The Nature Conservancy’s Rich Bowman tells us a record number of people have used state parks since the pandemic started, and for a variety of reasons.
“A lot of people who previously vacationed in Canada have been vacationing in Michigan the last few years because the border’s been closed,” Bowman said.
Bowman notes the outdoors are also a safe place to social distance, making them popular during the worst of COVID. He says the state Legislature allocated $250 million this year for parks projects.
“That was the good news. The bad news was part of the reason we needed that $250 million is that we frankly haven’t been generating as much revenue as it takes to maintain the parks, and so things have gotten behind.”
Bowman says the voter-created State Park Endowment Fund is intended to use mineral revenues to maintain parks, but it’s sitting at about $300 million when the goal is for it to be at $800 million. He’s pushing for a one-time infusion of $500 million from federal funds to get the endowment where it needs to be. Bowman says that will save the state in the long run.
