The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says sales of its Recreation Passports have been dramatically up since the pandemic. The passport system was created in 2010, enabling a driver renewing their license plate to pay an extra fee so they can access state parks for free year-round. DNR parks and recreation chief Dan Olson tells us 24% of Michigan vehicles had a passport in 2011.
“In this past year, we were just under 40% of vehicles, but the number of vehicles is up to about 7.8 to 7.9 million vehicles,” Olson said.
Olson says during the pandemic, people took to the great outdoors.
“In the recent years, after coming out of COVID, 2021 was our record year for passports, for camping, and many other activities and visitation. 2019 to 2021, visitation at the state parks went up 30%.”
Olson says camping revenues for the DNR also shot up in 2021. They went down in 2022 but were still strong. He believes many people who went outside in the pandemic found they enjoyed it and have continued to do so. Meanwhile, the Berrien County Parks Department tells us it also saw a record number of yearly parks passes sold in 2021, at 4,130. They went down in 2022, but not by much, to 4,080. Parks Director Jill Adams says sales of passes to the three parks with parking fees pay for the other four parks.
