03/08/2007

State park fees to be adjusted

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

INTERLOCHEN — Craig Gulseth thinks state park campers will be happy to see the end of a $5 fee foisted upon those without reservations.

A $2 hike in nightly camping fees next year probably won't be troublesome, either, he said.

Gulseth is manager at Interlochen State Park, where last year a $4 increase in nightly rates eluded campers, but not a new one-time registration fee for those who showed up hoping to find an open site.

"They were surprised by the new fee and a little irritated,” Gulseth said.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials said 25 percent of 1,400 comment cards collected at state parks last year included complaints about the new $5 registration fee for walk-in campers.

"A lot of people were unhappy because they took a gamble of getting an open site and had to pay the new fee,” said Ron Olson, DNR chief of parks and recreation.

That's why members of the Natural Resources Commission will discuss the issue today at a meeting in Saginaw. The proposed fee changes will be up for final approval next month.

Three local state parks are expected to see a $2 increase in nightly fees in 2008, including modern and rustic sites at Interlochen State Park in Grand Traverse County. Rustic camping at both Leelanau State Park in Leelanau County and Fisherman's Island State Park in Charlevoix County also will go up.

They are among the 35 state parks affected by the proposed fee increase designed to offset the rescinding of the $5 registration fee. The rest of Michigan's 70 state parks had a $4 increase in nightly rates last year. That hike affected the busiest state parks, those with at least 85-percent occupancy rates for the month of July.

The annual net revenue gained from these new proposed fee changes is estimated at $700,000, which will be spent on repairs at Michigan's state parks, Olson said.

Murdock Jemerson, chairman of the Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks, said he does not expect campers to balk at the small nightly fee increase.

"Bumping it up $2 after a three-year period, I don't think that's excessive,” Jemerson said.