🌲 Extreme Makeover: State Park's Edition

Extreme Makeover: State Park's Edition

New State Parks Director to give WI state parks a digital face lift

Criminy, Wisconsin's state parks are pretty spectacular. Whether it's a sunrise over Devil's Lake or cruising the National Lakeshore in a canoe, our state parks' beauty is bountiful in every sense of the word.

But there is one area that could use a major upgrade, and you know it if you've ever tried to search the Packer's score while out on a hike: the parks' technological infrastructure.

That's the motivation for new State Parks Director Steve Schmelzer to make some pretty major (and needed) technology updates to the parks system.

Mapping and WiFi woes

Though a hefty task, Director Schmelzer plans to roll out these updates to the 49 state parks, 15 state forests, 44 state bike trails, and more than 5,000 campsites during his tenure:

• GPS mapping: no more guessing based off that paper map you spilled your custard on in the parking lot.

• Park-wide WiFi: Though we're fans of digital detoxes, sometimes you need to Google what poison ivy looks like when "duty calls" on the trail, if you catch our drift...

• A Wiscampsin TikTok funded purely to explore all the state parks (alright, wishful thinking but not a bad idea if you ask us...)

Show me the money

To take our state parks from the Stone Age and into the 21st century, it's gonna take a little bit of dough.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin is nearly in dead last when it comes to tax funding for our state parks, just beating out Arizona and Texas for 48th place. Oh criminy, they don't even have brats there..

It's frankly a bit embarrassing as we actually rank 19th in the nation for park visitation. Alas, we spend just $1.20 per park visitor and just $134/acre (national average is $154/acre).

'Scons to the rescue

Since the 2015-2017 budget cut out state tax funding, parks have been completely self-reliant on camp reservations and park pass sales to keep afloat.

Fortunately, while some folks melded into their couch cushions during the pandemic, us 'Scons took up outdoor pursuits to pass the time.

From 2019 to 2020, state park pass sales rose by more than 42%, and we're tracking for a 19% increase in 2021.

But it's not just leaf peepers and hikers - fishing and deer hunting license sales skyrocketed as well, helping to bolster state conservation efforts.

The increased engagement bodes well for Wisconsin outdoor recreation, and will help fund projects like Schmelzer's above.

So get out 'der and support your local state park! Fun fact: The 2o22 sticker was designed by contest winner Kaylee Goodman of Slinger (Forrest's hometown). Rock on, Kaylee!