07/22/2007

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
From left, Ozzie Long, Tricia Stevens, Pat Long and Alina Stevens enjoy the river at the Forks State Forest Campground. The pictures below are from Tricia Stevens' family campouts at the now shuttered site.

Economic Decision, Emotional Impact

Family scrambles to maintain 60-year tradition after state campground is closed

By CYMBRE FOSTER
Special to the Record-Eagle

Special to the Record-Eagle

After serving in World War II, Tricia Stevens' grandfather returned to northern Michigan and began a family tradition of camping on the Boardman River with his wife and children.

The tradition soon included extended family and went on for 60 years. In addition, Stevens and her husband were married at Forks 20 years ago, and they have taken their 14-year-old daughter there every summer since she was born.

Meanwhile, Stevens' family has never missed a summer at the Forks State Forest Campground — until now.

Due to budget constraints, the Department of Natural Resources unexpectedly closed the rustic campground located near South Boardman in Grand Traverse County for the season on July 9. The cuts were made as part of a $75,000 reduction in a state General Fund appropriation to the Recreation and Trail Program for fiscal year 2007.

Stevens, who had planned to join aunts, uncles and cousins later that same week for their annual family reunion, was devastated by the news. She went to the campground to find the road barricaded, outhouses nailed shut and the water pump handle and dumpster gone.

"The Forks Campground has claimed home on our hearts as much as any other place on earth,” said the Interlochen resident who has camped there every summer since she was 2 weeks old. "It really, really hurts not to be there.”

Stevens' family members aren't the only ones who will miss the campground this summer.

"Certainly it will affect our business,” said Fred Schlosser, who owns the Country Store in South Boardman, the closest store to the Forks. "We're pretty upset about it. They (campers) come here to air up their inflatables for the river, fishermen come buy bait, and they come to get general supplies and groceries.

"The whole thing just came out of the blue.”

Forks was one of 20 state forest campgrounds closed, mostly in the northern Lower and the eastern Upper Peninsula. It was the only campground shuttered in Grand Traverse County, with 14 remaining open, according to the DNR. A total of 118 of the rustic campgrounds remain open statewide.

All 138 state forest campgrounds were reviewed before developing the closure list, explained Jim Radabaugh, state trails coordinator with the DNR in Lansing.

The DNR took three factors into consideration in developing the list: revenue collected per campground, revenue per campsite, and revenue per mile. Those closed were taking in the smallest amounts.

Even so, deciding which campground to close wasn't easy, said Radabaugh.

"It was very difficult, there was a lot of discussion,” he said. "But this was an economic decision, not a political one.

"We know that every

one of these places

is a personal favorite

for someone.”

The closures came during the peak summer months. For many in Stevens' family, it was too late to make other arrangements.

"We learned about it Friday night and it was closed on Monday,” said Stevens, who wrote to her Congressmen and the governor asking them to keep it open.

Radabaugh said that there was nothing his office could do to change the short notice. "The budget cut occurred at the end of June and we had to scramble to find savings immediately,” he explained.

The money saved would have gone toward payment of a daily patrol by a state park officer and other expenses such as lawn mowing and drinking water tests, according to the DNR.

The good news for the Stevens family and others affected by the closures is that they are temporary at this point, said Radabaugh. The campground should reopen Oct. 1 when the budget for fiscal year 2008 is finalized by the state Legislature.

"Hopefully, we'll be fully allocated through 2008 and this won't happen again,” he said.

Meanwhile, some of Stevens' family found spots at another campground this past week. However, because the river is deeper and there's less shade, many family members with health issues had to cancel, said Stevens.

"You were talking three or four generations camping and cooking together, telling stories,” she said. "It was really fun.

"Over the years generations have learned to swim in the same swimming hole, have come to know even the logs by name, where its sandy inches-deep water is perfect for toddlers to play with parents, where we learned the most about nature and about ourselves, where we draw our inspiration to write, paint, photograph, draw or sing. We're crazy river rats and just love that place.”