Today the Michigan State Senate gave a Special Tribute to the Michigan State Parks Advisory Committee, which replaced the now-defunct Citizen’s Committee for Michigan State Parks. The latter was a victim of the DNR and DEQ department consolidation.

The Committee received the White Pine Award for Environmental Excellence for over five years of work to make our state parks better. This work culminated with the recent passage of the Recreation Passport.

The White Pine Award is actually a white pine — Michigan’s state tree — which will likely be planted in a Michigan state park. Senator Patricia Birkholz, Chair of the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee presented the award and hinted that the tree could be planted in her district.

As a member of the committee, it was very rewarding getting this recognition on the Senate Floor. My Senator John Pappageorge was on hand and was a key supporter of the Recreation Passport. We spoke briefly about the recently passed texting-while-driving legislation. He said he helped push that those infractions to be a primary offense — something we certainly agree with.

— Todd Scott

(Photos by Lori Rhodes)

Tags: Citizen's Committee for Michigan State Parks, John Pappageorge, Michigan, Michigan State Parks Advisory Committee, Patty Birkholz, state parks, White Pine award

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 8:19 pm and is filed under General bike news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.