Delegation of Northern Michigan lawmakers sent a letter to the DNR director Thursday condemning the underhanded fundraising techniques

State Rep. Dave Prestin on Thursday called out leadership at the Department of Natural Resources for their ongoing attempts to hike prices for Michigan residents wherever they see an opportunity. Prestin joined nine of his colleagues from Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula in sending a letter to DNR Director Scott Bowen demanding his department cease their efforts to push additional costs onto outdoor enthusiasts.

“The DNR is lined with wasteful spending, inefficient employees, and failing programs. Yet, instead of looking internally to find ways to cut costs and fund park improvements, DNR leadership is trying to sneak through increased fees and policy changes to pay for their own shortcomings,” said Prestin, R-Cedar River. “We need to encourage more people to get out of the house and into the woods. Forcing people to pay more to do something they already were hesitant to do will not boost outdoor recreational participation – it will only make the problem worse.”

DNR leadership is currently pursuing fee hikes on hunting, fishing, and boating licenses, while also making a last-ditch attempt to strong-arm lawmakers into transitioning enrollment into annual recreation passports on license plates from an opt-in to opt-out model. Prestin slammed the DNR and Democrat bill sponsors for tying the opt-out scheme to a good bill that would give veterans free access to state parks.

Current policy requires people renewing their license plates to check a box to opt-in to the recreational passport. The DNR proposal would deceptively require people to check a box to opt-out of the recreational passport, likely leading to people unknowingly purchasing a passport when they have never purchased one before and have no intention of ever using one in the future.

House Republicans argue the DNR should expand its sales by providing better products and services to the public. The proposed increases require a thorough explanation and public input, which cannot be achieved on a rushed timeline.

“DNR leadership will tell you they are ‘modernizing’ the recreational passports. If by modernizing, they mean utilizing deceptive practices to trick people into paying for a subscription they’ll never actually use; they’re spot on,” Prestin said. “Whatever funding increases they may get from these plans will have a minimal effect on our parks. The extra money from our pricier deer tags won’t go toward fixing a dilapidated walking trail. That increased revenue is going to let the DNR hire more remote workers who will be tasked with saving flailing programming that DNR leadership is either too proud or woefully unaware to recognize as a failure.”

Under the opt-out proposal, no more than 20% of the funding earned through recreational passports will go to local parks, the rest of the funding goes right back to the DNR.

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