National Park Service Partners With Michigan To Provide Equitable Access To National Parks

Speaking inside the historic Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, once the heart of the automobile industry, the National Park Service announced a partnership with the state to improve accessibility to national parks. 

While the convergence of automobiles and nature may seem counterintuitive, Charles Sams, director of the park service, said they go hand in hand. 

Transportation provides connection, he said. 

"The mass production and relative affordability of automobiles transformed the world and made it possible for billions to visit and fall in love with unmatched national parks," Sams said at a Tuesday news conference, staged at the historic structure Ford built in 1904 as its first purpose-built factory, and where Ford created and first produced the famous Model T in 1908. 

The partnership aims to improve accessibility, affordability and mobility for the national parks.

There are six national parks in Michigan: Isle Royale near Houghton, Keweenaw in Calumet, North Country, a multistate trail, River Raisin National Battlefield near Monroe, Pictured Rocks in Munising, and Sleeping Bear Dunes in Empire. 

Michigan's national parks are exponentially growing in popularity, Sams said — visits to Pictured Rocks have increased by 130% in the last 10 years.

And while appreciating nature is wonderful, Sams said the mass visits also present some difficulties. 

Read the full article from the Detroit Free Press here.