By Milt Grissom, IPA Board President
My Favorite Time of the Year
I love the spring season. For me spring is like hitting the refresh button on an app. The employees of the DNR have hit the refresh button too, and the parks are ready for your visits.
I recently spent a couple of nights camping at Spring Mill SP and was able to observe the newly renovated gristmill in operation. What a great job by all involved! Spring Mill Village is one-of-a-kind in America, and the remaining buildings in the village will need some restoration work soon.
Charlestown SP was created in 1996 with closure of the Indiana Army Ammunition plant. This park on the Ohio River is about eight miles east of Jeffersonville. The hike to Rose Island and the interpretive information along the Ohio River are impressive. The Portersville Bridge is an interesting story. The campground is well designed. In the words of IU’s football coach Curt Cigneti, “Google it!”
Fees and Funding
This season brought fee increases to our state parks for the first time in over ten years. Our parks were being loved to death during and after the pandemic, and reservations were often difficult to get for full-service campground sites. The 2026 season has seen a lot of rain, and occupancy is down at campgrounds and state park inns. However, with the rate increases, revenue is up 11 %. As the weather becomes more camping-friendly, the fee increases will have the desired impact of raising badly needed funds. This will hopefully allow Indiana State Parks to fully restore staffing levels.
Indiana’s 2027 legislative session will establish the State’s budget for fiscal years 2028-29. This session will be critical for our state parks and nature preserves. Budget planning in agencies, including DNR, is already underway to get ready for this session. Our parks are at a critical time for roof replacements, parking lot/road repairs, siding repairs and many other capital needs in addition to a restored budget for daily operations. Indiana has a rainy-day fund, and it is time to use it to avoid long term damage to park facilities. We will speak up as an organization, but agency directors, legislators, and the Governor need to hear from YOU as their constituents. Tell them how much you enjoy and use Indiana’s State Parks and Indiana’s Nature Preserves, and that https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/indexyou would like to see these sites receive additional funding for maintenance and operations in the next biennial budget.
Partners Matter
We are so fortunate to have The Lilly Endowment, Inc. based in Indiana. The Endowment’s generosity is on display with new playgrounds. By the time you read this, Indiana State Parks will have held a ribbon-cutting for the new playground at Fort Harrison State Park, representative of the 43 playgrounds being installed around the state with enhanced accessibility. As part of the same grant awarded a couple of years ago, The Lilly Endowment, Inc. funded new track chairs for every park. These chairs allow people with disabilities to travel trails and see park features that may have been unreachable in the past.
Trails for Tomorrow Match Dollars Still Needed
As mentioned in the March Newsletter, IPA currently has a matching grant effort in progress. We will receive one dollar for every dollar we receive by September 30, 2026, up to a total match gift of $10,000. We are off to a good start but need more contributions to meet the goal. This spring, our Trails for Tomorrow fund donated $2500 each to trails-related projects at Charlestown SP and McCormick’s Creek SP. Wayfinding trail maps have been installed at Indiana Dunes, Tippecanoe River, Turkey Run, Shades, Clifty Falls, and O’Bannon Woods with support from this fund.
Hit YOUR refresh button and enjoy our Indiana State Parks and Nature Preserves this summer!
-Milt Grissom, IPA President