As we flip the calendar to September, the signs of change are already here. This past weekend, I spotted my first colored leaf. Before long, fall will settle across Michigan, snow will follow, and voters will once again choose those who will lead our state and country.
For Michigan’s recreational community, change is coming in other ways, too.
Amendment 305: Only the Beginning
As motorized recreation moves forward, we are beginning to see what the newly added Amendment 305 will mean for our restricted recreational funds. I continue to meet with DNR officials to review current spending and better understand how this language will affect both the snowmobile and ORV funds.
This is membership at work.
Your MISORVA membership gives motorized recreation a voice beyond the trail. It allows us to work with legislators, meet with DNR leadership, attend advisory meetings, educate decision-makers, and — perhaps most importantly — build relationships. Amendment 305 didn’t happen overnight. It came from conversations, questions, meetings, legislative rides, and legislators willing to listen. Several passionate legislators, along with DNR officials, have helped put a Band-Aid on some of these funding concerns for now. Those same relationships helped make Amendment 305 happen. But 305 is only the beginning.
Every recreational user group should be asking similar questions:
How is our restricted recreational money being spent? Are those dollars directly benefiting the people who paid them? Why are access points, hunting areas, or DNR services being reduced while user-funded programs continue paying substantial administrative costs? These aren’t questions we ask to create conflict. We ask them because accountability matters.
Working Together Instead of Against Each Other
Recently, I attended a Natural Resources Commission meeting and listened to a presentation by Greenway Conservation about finding a better solution than further restricting access for duck hunters. That is what working together looks like.
Different recreational interests don’t have to compete for a seat at the table. Hunters, anglers, snowmobilers, ORV riders, hikers, birdwatchers, campers, boaters, and others all share something important: we value access to Michigan’s outdoors.
Michigan recreation is woven into the fabric of our state and our tourism economy. Whether someone lives here or travels hundreds of miles to visit, Michigan is a destination. We have trails. Lakes. Rivers and streams. Hunting and fishing. ORV and snowmobile opportunities. Birdwatching. Camping. And quiet places in the woods where someone can simply get away from everything. Michigan has it all.
But many of the people making recreation decisions aren’t necessarily recreationalists themselves. They may spend their days behind a desk in Lansing, far removed from a groomed snowmobile trail, an ORV route, a hunting blind, or volunteers brushing trail on a Saturday morning. Our job is to bring the trail to Lansing. And sometimes I wonder: How many of the people in DNR management who make decisions about our programs have ever actually been on a snowmobile or ridden in an ORV? Yet we expect them to make difficult decisions about our recreation and determine how our restricted user funds — our grocery money — are spent.
That isn’t meant as criticism of individuals. It is exactly why education and communication matter. Decision-makers need to understand what happens on the ground, how these programs actually operate, where the money comes from, and what the volunteers and users who fund them experience. We do that through legislative rides, meetings, photographs, facts, personal stories, and face-to-face conversations. We help elected officials and agency leaders understand not only what we do, but why it matters. That is how MISORVA uses your membership dollars. Your drop in the bucket fills it….
Who Will Be in the Room?
We frequently hear that today’s users simply aren’t “joiners.” And perhaps that’s true. Churches, VFW posts, Knights of Columbus chapters, service organizations, clubs, and associations across the country are struggling with declining membership and fewer volunteers. We recently watched another longtime Michigan conservation organization succumb to declining membership and financial pressures. That should concern every recreational user.
Because when an advocacy organization disappears, the issues don’t disappear with it.
The meetings still happen.
The budgets still get written.
The regulations still get proposed.
The decisions still get made.
The question becomes: Who will be in the room representing the users? Who will attend the meetings most people don’t have time to attend? Who will read the budgets? Who will ask where restricted funds are going? Who will educate the people we elect?
And without strong advocacy organizations representing recreational users, whose voice fills the empty chair?
A New Administration Will Bring New Questions
Michigan will soon elect new leadership, and eventually a new governor will appoint people who influence the direction of the Department of Natural Resources.
Who will lead the DNR?
What will that administration’s priorities be?
Will we see different management practices for recreation?
Will access expand or contract?
And how will restricted recreational funds be managed?
Consider just one example: more than $1 million from the snowmobile restricted fund has been used annually for DNR staffing and administrative expenses. Imagine what another $1 million could mean on the ground. Equipment. Grooming. Trail repairs. Bridges. Signs. Emergency needs. Infrastructure. And snowmobiling isn’t the only recreation asking questions. What about ORV, hunting and fishing funds?
I don’t have all of those financial answers. But I do know that, from the recent meetings I have attended, the ORV Advisory Workgroup is working hard to get answers, just as the Snowmobile Advisory Workgroup continues asking questions about the snowmobile program.
That work matters.
Now It’s Your Turn
Advocacy isn’t only MISORVA’s responsibility. It belongs to every one of us. Safety comes from the numbers.
Join your local club.
Show up at their spaghetti dinner even if you hate spaghetti. Buy the raffle ticket. Attend the fundraiser. Volunteer for a workday. Ask if they need someone to pound signs, clear brush, help at an event, or simply bring lunch to the volunteers. Many clubs have fewer than 10 regular volunteers maintaining miles and miles of trail. Put that into perspective. If a club maintains 50 miles of trail, every mile must be inspected, brushed, signed, maintained, and prepared for riders. Club fundraisers have helped purchase trailers, other trail equipment, and vehicles, but much of it is accomplished on 2 feet. Think about walking just five miles while cutting brush, carrying signs and tools, checking intersections, and repairing problems along the way. Now multiply that by ten. That’s 50 miles. Then remember that when winter arrives, thousands of riders may travel those miles without ever knowing the names of the handful of people who made that ride possible.
Membership Is More Than a Card
Join your local club because trails need volunteers. Join MISORVA because your recreation needs a voice.
Membership allows MISORVA representatives to walk into a legislator’s office and say we represent Michigan’s motorized recreational community. Every additional member strengthens that voice.
Amendment 305 showed what can happen when recreational users organize, communicate, educate, and build relationships. But we are not done yet; the kettle of fish we are frying is still coming. That was step one.
Fall is coming. Elections are coming. New leaders will eventually take their seats. New policies will be discussed. New budgets will be written. The decisions will happen whether recreational users participate or not. Do your research and vote!! It matters more than you think.
So as that first colored leaf reminds us that another season is changing, perhaps it should remind us of something else:
Don’t just use the trails. Help protect them.
Don’t just question the decisions. Help shape them.
Join your club. Join MISORVA. Be part of the voice.
Because if we’re not in the room, the decisions still happen.
