# DNR Announces Closure of 20 State Forest Campgrounds



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
July 6, 2007

Contacts: Jim Radabaugh 517-373-1276 or Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014 

DNR Announces Closure of 20 State Forest Campgrounds

The Department of Natural Resources today announced the closure of 20 state forest campgrounds throughout the state to facilitate a $75,000 reduction in state General Fund appropriation to the Recreation and Trail Program for fiscal year 2007. The campgrounds will be closed effective Monday, July 9, 2007.

State forest campgrounds are within state forest lands in Michigan, and are not state parks. State forest campgrounds offer a more rustic setting for primarily tent camping. Basic campsites are $15 per night or as posted at the campground information stations. State forest campgrounds are not staffed and are not a part of the DNRs online reservation system.

To be forced to limit any outdoor experience has been a very difficult decision for the department, said DNR Director Rebecca A. Humphries. Michigans natural resources offer amazing recreational opportunities, and we encourage everyone to camp at one of the 118 campgrounds that will be open the remainder of this season.

All 138 state forest campgrounds were reviewed in developing the closure list. The three factors that were considered in developing the list include revenues collected per campground, revenues per campsite and revenues per mile. The combined factors placed the closed facilities at the low end of the revenue-producing state forest campgrounds. Closing them will provide a cost savings to the program, DNR officials said.

Campground closures will occur in the following counties: Alpena, Antrim, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Crawford, Luce, Marquette, Oscoda, Otsego, Schoolcraft, Grand Traverse and Wexford.

The remaining 118 state forest campgrounds will be open and available for rustic camping throughout the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Peninsula.

Dispersed camping (camping outside of designated campgrounds) on state forest lands is prohibited within one mile of designated state forest campgrounds. There are no fees for dispersed camping.

For additional information on state forest campgrounds that will be open the remainder of this season, please visit the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr and click on Recreation and Camping.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the states natural resources for current and future generations.
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State Forest Campgrounds Closing Effective July 9, 2007

ATLANTA MANAGEMENT UNIT (3 close; 10 remain open)
Twin Lakes Cheboygan County
Black Lake Trail Camp Cheboygan County
Thunder Bay River Alpena County

CADILLAC MANAGEMENT UNIT (1 close; 13 remain open)
Long Lake Wexford County

GAYLORD MANAGEMENT UNIT (2 close; 8 remain open)
Pinney Bridge Antrim County
Stoney Creek Trail Camp Cheboygan County

GRAYLING MANAGEMENT UNIT (3 close; 14 remain open)
Walsh Road Trail Camp Crawford County
Muskrat Lake Oscoda County
McCollum Lake Oscoda County

GWINN MANAGEMENT UNIT (2 close; 15 remain open)
Pike Lake Marquette County
N. Horseshoe Lake Marquette County

NEWBERRY MANAGEMENT UNIT (4 close; 13 remain open)
Shelldrake Dam Chippewa County
High Bridge Luce County
Headquarters Lake Luce County
Bass Lake Luce County

PIGEON RIVER COUNTRY (1 close; 7 remain open)
Johnsons Crossing Otsego County

SHINGLETON MANAGEMENT UNIT (3 close; 8 remain open)
Mead Creek Schoolcraft County
N. Gemini Lake Schoolcraft County
S. Gemini Lake Schoolcraft County

TRAVERSE CITY MANAGEMENT UNIT (1 close; 15 remain open)
Forks Grand Traverse County


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

20 state forest campgrounds to close on Monday

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/NEWS06/70706035

July 6, 2007 FREE PRESS STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

TRAVERSE CITY  At the height of summer outdoor recreation season, Michigan is closing 20 state forest campgrounds at least temporarily because of the tight budget.

The campgrounds mostly are in the northern Lower Peninsula and eastern Upper Peninsula. Closing them will enable the states Recreation and Trail Program to absorb a $75,000 cut, the Department of Natural Resources said Friday.

Campgrounds in state forests are very different from those in state parks, said Mary Dettloff, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. State park campgrounds are not being closed, she said.

Park campgrounds offer more amenities, are a popular place to bring motor homes and RVs, and tend to take in significantly more money than do forest campgrounds, Dettloff said.

We were very selective in the campgrounds that we chose to close, Dettloff said. 

The campgrounds, which will close Monday, are among those taking in the smallest amount of revenue among state forest campgrounds. Additionally, she said, the campgrounds being closed are in counties where other nearby locations will remain open for camping.

Forest campgrounds, she said, simply offer a pit toilet, fire ring and water hand-pump. Forest campgrounds cant be reserved. Camping spots are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, and visitors are responsible for filling out an envelope with information that includes their name and address, and the number of persons in their party. They then put money in an envelope, which goes into a pay receptacle. Once a day, a state park officer comes by to collect the money and do a brief patrol of the area.

The $75,000 being cut back would have gone toward some of those officers' pay, in addition to expenses such as lawn mowing, gravel for repaving nearby roads and drinking water tests, Dettloff said.

The closures continue through the remainder of the 2007 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Whether they will reopen next year will depend on funding, said Jim Radabaugh, state trails coordinator.

To be forced to limit any outdoor experience has been a very difficult decision for the department, DNR Director Rebecca Humphries said in a statement.

Despite the closures, an additional 118 state forest campgrounds will remain open.


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## Bachflock (Jul 3, 2007)

Sad, just sad.


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## glockman55 (Mar 9, 2006)

It will only get worse.:sad: Keep closing our parks and raising the camp fees at the rest. Private campgrounds are the way to go. More for your buck. Camping is just for us little people, you'll never see any of our politicians camping with the common people, so why do they care if they close em? Now you start messing with the airlines by striking for a better wage, you'll loose your job!


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## Gilbey (Oct 26, 2005)

Very


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## RyeDog (Jul 28, 2006)

I love camping at State Forests, the best way in my opinion. As I am sad to see these being closed, I am happy that some of my favorite are not on this list.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

DNR left in lurch over campground cuts

07/27/07 By Howard Meyerson The Grand Rapids Press [email protected]

The DNR's recent decision to close of 20 of 138 state forest campgrounds certainly telegraphs a picture of an agency in a dire financial straight. 

But more troubling, in some ways, is the way the decision appeared to be executed. The agency gave the public three days notice. On July 6, the agency announced its plan to close 14 percent of its rustic campground system on July 9 at the height of the summer season. 

That's not exactly admirable behavior for a state agency that depends on various user groups for financial support. Families who planned to travel to those campgrounds or were already camping there faced sudden hardships. It should not have happened that way.

On the other hand, perhaps those aggrieved individuals should write to their local legislators and complain. It appears that those who took part in the budget reconciliation activity in Lansing a few weeks ago, might be appropriate targets for any unvented wrath. 

You may know from news stories that the campgrounds were closed because of $75,000 reduction in state general fund appropriation. 

What that means is that the legislature opted, with three months left in the fiscal year, to take back some of the money that was promised to the DNR state forest campground program. It chose to do that across the board in state government, but not everyone's summer plans rode on each pot of money. 

"This was not a choice the DNR made. The legislature decided at the end of June and we had 10 days once we were told," said DNR state trails coordinator Jim Radabaugh. "We had to figure out how to come up with the reduction and which campgrounds to close. Then we needed to get approval for the list that we were proposing." 

Seventy-five thousand may not seem like a lot. Surely not enough to warrant closing 20 campgrounds. But state forest campgrounds are fairly lean operations. They have no staff. They tend to be small and more remote, offering picnic tables, fire-rings, an outhouse and water pumps.

Campers are on the honor system to pay. Staff come to the sites only to collect money and clean the toilets or pick up trash. 

So even $75,000 can have a big impact. In fact, maintenance has since been halted on the 880 miles of pathway associated with the agency's 138 rustic campgrounds. Ironically, these are the very hiking, biking and equestrian trails that draw the campers to the area.

Go figure. 

Citizens, of course, have come unglued. Radabaugh said the decision to close campgrounds drew the ire of many in the northern portions of the state. Small business's rely on summer camping traffic. Hikers and mountain bikers spend money in surrounding communities. Campers have their favorite places. 

"They were very upset," Radabaugh said. "The public outcry was much larger than some of the legislators expected. These were their personal places in the forest and they've been taken away."

The plan, as of now, is to reopen the 20 campgrounds in October, the next fiscal year. Radabaugh says he intends for the closures to be temporary. 

Reopening, of course, depends on having money. The House of Representatives approved a budget bill this week with that money intact; it will also take agreement from the Senate and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. 

"We'd have to replace tables and put handles back on wells and do what is needed to reopen them for the fall camping season," he said. 

It is an optimistic scenario, politics being as ugly as they are in Lansing. But perhaps someone there will see the obvious sense of keeping these campgrounds open. The DNR forest campground program has operated on a shoestring for decades. It draws about 100,000 campers a year, who each spend three to four nights camping. The number of campers has dropped each of the last three years, according to Radabaugh, but the length of their stay has increased. 

The result is that revenues have stayed flat over the same period while costs have risen from 3 to 5 percent a year. The rustic campground program faced a $500,000 budget shortfall this fiscal year. It is a program that lives and dies from its camping revenues. 

Camping fees were increased in May to order to cover that expected deficit. Then someone on the legislative budget team in June pointed their finger at a perhaps seemingly innocuous line-item called forest recreation and trails. 

They probably didn't realize they'd poked a hornet's nest. But they rightfully deserve to get stung.


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## Garret (Aug 2, 2002)

N & S Gemini? You have got to be kidding me! Two of the better campgrounds in the Munising area. 

What a joke!


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## FishinJoe (Dec 8, 2003)

I love Gemini too with this and the $15 a night now what is this state thinking? You can almost get a room for that, I think the price increase is ridiculous enough.

Joe


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Campgrounds issue masks the real debate in Lansing 

Michigan Republicans have been having a field day demanding the state cut, cut and cut before adding a dime of new revenue to the budget.

http://www.record-eagle.com/2007/aug/03edit.htm


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