SILVER LAKE, Mich. —
Silver Lake State Park is accepting feedback for their new draft general management plan for the park through October. The plan will help shape the future of the park over the next 10 to 20 years.
“It's a big park. It's 3,000 acres. It's one of our older parks,” said Deb Jensen, Park Management Plan Administrator for the Parks and Recreation Division of the state DNR. “Obviously, one of the things that a lot of people focus on is the ORV area, because that is unique. But the park has a lot of other things to offer too.”
The DNR has had these plans in the works for a while now and says it has no connection to the accidents and deaths on Silver Lake’s dunes this summer.
“This is just, you know, part of the process that we go through, and the timing of it was just the time in the planning cycle, and the other things this has nothing to do directly with that at all,” Ron Olson, Chief, Parks and Recreation for the state DNR said. “I mean, not to say that at a public meeting, people are free to bring up what they choose to of course, and we expect there's a lot of passionate users at the ORV area that'll come and share their commentary about things. But this is for the whole park, not just the ORV area.”
The last management plan was in 2012, and helped manage the park up until this point.
With the new plan, the department is hoping to make small changes to all of the park. But Jensen said these aren’t wholesale changes and will just enhance the visitor experience.
Proposed changes include an in-depth study of the ORV area, which will help the DNR see how it functions, how people enjoy it, and if there’s any improvements they can make. Previous improvements, which Jensen compared it to, include bathrooms on the dunes and increasing the size of the access ramp.
Other recommendations they’ve heard from the public are easier access to the lighthouse, including changes to the road and parking lot, and developing hiking trails through the park.
The draft plan can be accessed at michigan.gov/silverlake.
There are three opportunities to provide feedback:
In-person meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 24, 6-7:30 p.m. at Golden Township Hall, 5527 W. Fox Road in Mears.
Virtual meeting: Monday, Sept. 30, 6-7:30 p.m. Advance registration is required.
Online public input survey: For those unable to attend either meeting, an interactive online public input survey is available through Oct. 13. Additionally, the Sept. 30 meeting will be recorded and posted on the project website