Get all your fishing information here, including rules and regulations, license info, the weekly fishing report and much more. Use the link above to visit the fishing home page, or go directly to your area of interest below:
Get all your hunting information here, including hunting season dates, rules and regulations, and much more. Use the button above to visit the hunting home page, or go directly to your area of interest below:
Information on DNR shooting and archery ranges, rules and regulations, resources to get started and more. Use the button above to visit the target shooing and archery home page, or go directly to one of the pages below:
Find snowmobile trail permit info, maps, rules and regulations and more. USE THE BUTTON ABOVE TO VISIT THE SNOWMOBILE HOMEPAGE or go directly to you area of interest below:
Want to find tasty morel mushrooms in the forest? Click the box above for tips and tricks to fill your basket.
Find cross-country ski, ice fishing , snowmobiling info and much more.
Find facility info, overnight info, an event calendar and much more.
Find a great trail experience near you - whether you want to hike, bike, snowmobile or ride an ORV. From long, paved linear trails to rugged forest terrain, Michigan offers trail opportunities for all abilities and interests.
Visitor Centers across the state provide education programs, field trips, archery, fishing, trails and much more. Click the box above to see all our locations, or click the individual location below.
We administer grants that enable our local partners to promote the lifestyles we all enjoy by providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildlife habitat and ensuring public safety. Visit the grants home page by clicking on the button above, or view a specific area of interest below:
Recreational Safety and Hunter Education
Learn about Michigan's diverse range of fish, plants, trees, reptiles, amphibians, insects and mammals. Click the box above to see all species, or click the species group below.
DNR educators across the state provide fun, educational activities, programs and workshops year-round for adults, families and kids. Click the box above to see all our offerings, or click the program below.
DNR educators provide classroom lessons, field trip opportunities, professional development and experiential programs to teachers around the state. Click the box above to see all our offerings, or click the program below.
DNR forest resources professionals maintain healthy forests, manage wildfire, maintain responsible harvesting certifications and improve wildlife habitat. Click the box above to learn more about Michigan's state forests.
All DNR-related boards, committees, and advisory groups
Find seasonal, part-time and full-time job openings with the DNR
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The response to the initial round of Michigan Spark Grants was much stronger and the ask much higher than with traditional DNR recreation grant programs. The program is made possible through American Rescue Plan Act funding, which is aimed at providing resources to communities negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
To embrace that intent, the DNR leveraged and combined public information and data sets about communities identified by the Spark Grant advisory group when establishing the program’s financial and social considerations scoring category. This blend of local health and economic information, combined with a lack of access to nearby public park space, is one way to identify a subset of Michigan communities – “opportunity communities” – eligible for an additional path to support.
The data sets used (including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Way) in both the Spark Grant financial and social scoring category as well as in identifying opportunity communities include:
You can view the maps below to see how municipalities across the state scored in each of these areas.
You can also use this interactive map to get detailed information about each area.
*Please note, the opportunity communities were identified using the same data set at the jurisdiction or municipal boundary scale. Jurisdictional boundaries generally encompass several census tracts in urban areas.
For the individual application scoring, census tract scale (generally a smaller geographic unit determined by the US Census Bureau) was utilized to ensure the Spark investment was going to be placed in a park surrounded by residents in need.
Those with fewer accessible public park spaces ranked higher on the list.
Sources include USGS Protected Areas (PAD-US), DNR parcels, Open Street Map, DNR recreation grants, Ottawa County, Livingston County, Oakland County, Eastern upper peninsula, ORV scramble areas, SEMCOG, SW Michigan, The Nature Conservancy, and Fish and Wildlife Service.
ALICE by census tract (based on the United Way’s “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” standard for households earning just above the federal poverty but not enough to make ends meet).
ALICE data 2019 by census tract: This data set consists of ALICE data joined to the Michigan 2018 census tracts.
Communities with a higher percentage of residents living with mental health challenges ranked higher.
CDC Places Health data by census tract: This dataset contains 2019 data values for health factors, and contains population numbers from 2010 census tracts.
Communities with greater physical inactivity ranked higher.
CDC Places Health data by census tract: This dataset contains 2019 data values for health factors, and contains population numbers from 2010 census tracts.
As one of six scoring categories, this financial and social data ultimately helps determine which communities receive DNR-administered Spark Grant funding to build and improve public recreation spaces and facilities for their residents; the data also identified the top 39 communities – the “opportunity communities” – that will have the chance later this year to apply for $27.5 million in Spark Grants through a partnership with the Council of Michigan Foundations.
Only identified “opportunity communities” are eligible to apply for CMF-administered Spark Grant funding. Visit the CMF Spark Grants webpage to learn more about this option.
If your community is not listed, this option is unavailable, but several other DNR-administered recreation grant opportunities may be right for you:
DNR recreation grants, including the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Recreation Passport grant programs (apply by April 1 each year).
If you’re uncertain about how to find the best grant option for your community, we want to help. Please email DNR-Grants@Michigan.gov or contact a regional grant coordinator.
