The cost of a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Recreation Passport will go up slightly this year. The DNR’s Ron Olson tells us they will cost $13 instead of $12 starting in March.
“It’s statutory, and when we created the Recreation Passport and it was adopted by the Legislature in late 2010 and went into effect, it started at $10 and has gone up twice since then,” Olson said.
Olson says the passports used to cost $24, but the Legislature lowered the cost more than ten years ago, and since then, the state has sold a lot more of the them.
“There are 7.9 million passenger vehicles in the state, approximately, and we have about 40% of the people who own vehicles secure a passport.”
Olson says the passports generate a large portion of the DNR’s funding, although camping fees make up the biggest part of its revenue. The agency gets very little tax revenue from the state. A Recreation Passport will grant anyone free admission to a state park. You can choose to get one when you renew your registration.
