Michigan's state parks system was started in 1919. Three Michigan state parks pre-date the creation of the park system in 1919: Mackinac Island State Park (1895), Michilimackinac State Park (1909) and Interlochen State Park (1917).
Mackinac Island State Park was created in 1895. It had served as the nation's second national park for two decades beginning in 1875. In 1909, Michilimackinac State Park was created in nearby Mackinaw City. Both of these parks, along with Historic Mill Creek State Park are under the jurisdiction of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission.
Interlochen State Park was purchased by the Michigan Legislature in 1917 and was the first public park to be transferred to the Michigan State Park Commission in 1920. Because Mackinac Island State Park was a federal gift with its own commission and jurisdiction, for those reasons some choose to not consider it the first state park even though it predates Interlochen State Park by nearly 25 years.
Since 1919, 33 additional state park units have been decommissioned for varied reasons. The majority of these former state park units, 16, were transferred to counties or cities and are still local parks today. Four of the former units were incorporated into Michigan's two National Lakeshores when were created in the 1960s and 70s, while five others were removed and reverted into surrounding state lands (state game areas, state forests, state fish hatcheries, etc.). Four of the units were incorporated into larger state recreation areas in the 1940s in the Greater Detroit area, although one of those recreation areas is now a local park. Two of the former state park units are now state forest campgrounds and another two units existed on state lands which were sold to private interests and closed. (The Former state park units section lists each of these former units.)
DNR operates 746 boat launches on 57000acres of designated public water access sites. It also operates 16 "harbors of refuge" as well as providing support for the other 61 harbors in the system. The harbors of refuge are approximately 30miles apart along the Great Lakes shoreline to provide shelter from storms and often provide boat launches and supplies. There are 13 state underwater preserves covering 2450sqmi of Great Lakes bottomland and ten of them have a maritime museum or interpretive center in a nearby coastal community.
The DNR Parks and Recreation Division also manages 138 state forest campgrounds (including a dozen equestrian campgrounds). The Michigan state game and wildlife areas encompass more than 340000acres. DNR also oversees the trail systems in the state. This includes 880miles of non-motorized trails, 1145miles of rail-trails, 3193miles of off-road vehicle (ORV) routes and 6216miles of snowmobile trails.
| Name | County | Size | Estab- lished | Lake / river | Image | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| acres | ha | ||||||
| 4637acres | 1944 | Lower Trout Lake, others | Water Warrior Island waterpark | ||||
| 1665acres | 1994 | ||||||
| 4947acres | 1944 | Bishop Lake, others | |||||
| 3033acres | 1971 | Eagle, Jackson and Whitford-Lawler Lakes | |||||
| 5900acres | 1944 | Haven Hill, Temple, Moore Lakes and others | |||||
| 7817acres | 1944 | Heron, Valley, and McGinnis Lakes | |||||
| Ionia State Recreation Area | 4500acres | 1965 | |||||
| 4000acres | 1944 | Huron River, Island Lake | Hot-air balloon launch area | ||||
| Lake Hudson State Recreation Area | 2796acres | 1979 | Lake Hudson | First-ever Dark-Sky Preserve designated, 1993 | |||
| Lime Island State Recreation Area | 980acres | 2011 | Visitors provide own transportation to remote island; six rental cabins; Victorian House/Museum | ||||
| Menominee River State Recreation Area | 2879acres | 2012 | Co-managed with Wisconsin's Menominee River State Park and Recreation Area | ||||
| 723acres | 1944 | Minnewanna Lake | |||||
| 5400acres | 1944 | Big Fish and Davison Lakes | |||||
| Pinckney State Recreation Area | 11000acres | 1944 | Numerous inland lakes | ||||
| 3745acres | 1944 | Huron River, Pontiac Lake | |||||
| Proud Lake State Recreation Area | 3030acres | 1944 | Huron River, Proud Lake | ||||
| Rifle River State Recreation Area | 4449acres | 1963 | |||||
| Rockport State Recreation Area | 4237acres | 2012 | Contains old limestone quarry and Besser Natural Area | ||||
| 117acres | 2007 | Managed under a lease agreement with Consumers Energy. | |||||
| Waterloo State Recreation Area | 20125acres | 1943 | Numerous inland lakes | ||||
| 913acres | 1969 | Coon Creek | |||||
| 5200acres | 1943 | ||||||
The following state trails are units of the State Park System. Several other state trails fall under Department of Natural Resources jurisdiction and/or maintenance, but are not state park units and are not included here.
| Name | Official name | Counties | Length | Estab- lished | Image | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi | km | ||||||
| Hart-Montague Trail State Park | William Field Memorial Hart-Montague Trail State Park | Muskegon, Oceana | 22disp=tableNaNdisp=table | 1988 | Converted rail-trail | ||
| Kal-Haven Trail | Kal-Haven Bicycle Trail Sesquicentennial State Park | Kalamazoo, Van Buren | 34.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table | 1988 | Converted rail-trail | ||
| Lakelands Trail State Park | Mike Levine Lakelands Trail State Park | 26disp=tableNaNdisp=table | 1991 | Converted rail-trail | |||
| Van Buren Trail State Park | 14disp=tableNaNdisp=table | 1994 | Converted rail-trail | ||||
| White Pine Trail State Park | Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park | 92disp=tableNaNdisp=table | 1996 | Converted rail-trail |
| Name | County | Size | Estab- lished | Hydrologic Feature(s) | Image | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| acres | ha | ||||||
| Agate Falls Scenic Site | 213acres | 1992 | Agate Falls | Adjacent to Agate Falls MDOT State Roadside Park. | |||
| Bond Falls Scenic Site | 90acres | 1992 | DNR-managed facility on Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO)-owned land. | ||||
| DNR Pocket Park | 1acres | 1998 | none | Within the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds in Escanaba featuring a fishing pond, archery and pellet gun ranges, a fire tower, a waterfall and a dozen specialty gardens. Open seasonally May through September. | |||
| 115acres | 2018 | Future State Scenic Site under development.[1] | |||||
| Father Marquette National Memorial | 58acres | 1973 | Straits of Mackinac (views) | Within the western portion of Straits State Park. | |||
| Gete Mino Mshkiigan | 147acres | 2013 | Undeveloped/future state park site managed by DNR Parks & Recreation Division (PRD).[2] | ||||
| Holly Oaks ORV Park | 235acres | 2021 | none | Jointly-managed with Oakland County Parks. | |||
| Outdoor Adventure Center | 0.94acres | 2015 | In historic Globe Building, adjacent to William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor. | ||||
| Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center | 32acres | 1941 | Within North Higgins Lake State Park | ||||
| Saginaw River Headwaters Recreation Area | 334acres | 2023 | DNR-owned park, managed by Saginaw County Parks.[3] | ||||
| Wagner Falls Scenic Site | 23acres | 1956 | |||||
See also: List of Michigan state forests. Michigan's state forest system is administered by the Forest Resources Division (FRD) within the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, not the Parks and Recreation Division (PRD) which manages the state park system, however the Parks and Recreation Division took over the recreation responsibilities of the Forest Resources Division (e.g. the state forest campgrounds and the trails and pathways within the state forests) in January 2012.