Recent proposals to sell state parkland and legislation intended to provide greater protection for these parks have raised important questions and concerns among Michigan citizens and environmental groups about the future of our state parks.

Last fall, Russell Harding, a policy analyst with the conservative think tank Mackinac Center and former director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, proposed that the state sell 14 of its 97 parks as a way of raising funds and cutting costs. Michigan citizens and legislators began looking at the kinds of legal protections that now exist for state parks.

Under current law, state parkland can only be exchanged for land with equal or greater value, and if the land is sold, all proceeds go back into a fund that can only be used for the purchase of more land. While current law includes citizen input and public meetings, the director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has the final say in whether state parkland is sold or otherwise transferred.

To create greater protections against the future sale of state parks, Senators Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck) and Cameron Brown (R-Fawn River Township) introduced bills that would increase public involvement and for the first time include legislative oversight of decisions to sell or transfer parts of state parks and recreation areas. The bills have been modified in the Senate to give the DNR the flexibility it says it needs to acquire new lands for parks and improve resources, while maintaining strong protections.

The bills would require legislative approval, public hearings and public notice for every proposal to transfer more than 100 acres or 15% of the total acreage of a park. For proposals to transfer parcels of land smaller than 100 acres or 15% of the total acreage of a park, the DNR would have to notify the Legislature, who would then have 60 days to act. DNR would post a list of land proposed for transfer on its web site.

Michigan's state parks protect some of our state's most remarkable lands, including the old-growth forests and waterfalls of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and the six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline in Ludington State Park.

The biggest threat facing state parks is the DNR's chronic budget problems. Concerned citizens need to look seriously at solving this problem in the very near future in order to protect our state's jewels. These bills are an important first step.