System down starting Feb. 15; customers encouraged to buy licenses and permits early

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will move to a new, more technologically advanced system for selling hunting and fishing licenses, hunting applications, and ORV and snowmobile permits online and at retail agent locations statewide. The new system will go live at noon Feb. 18.

The transition to the new license sales system will take place Saturday, Feb. 15, through noon Tuesday, Feb. 18. DNR licenses, permits and applications will not be sold in stores or online during that time.

To avoid any interruption to outdoor activities that weekend, customers are encouraged to buy licenses or permits before Feb. 15, if possible.

Anglers will not need a license to fish Feb. 15-17. No fishing license is required during the annual winter Free Fishing Weekend, Feb. 15 and 16, and the DNR also is allowing free fishing on Monday, Feb. 17, to coincide with the time the license system is unavailable. All rules and regulations still apply.

Snowmobilers and off-road vehicle riders can find a list of select dealers selling preprinted ORV licenses and ORV and snowmobile trail permits while the system is down at Michigan.gov/Snowmobiling.

Moving to the new system, which will replace a 26-year-old system under a vendor contract ending in April, allowed the DNR to upgrade its license sales technology, enhance features for customers and provide new equipment to license retailers.

“We’re always looking to improve our customers’ experience, and we designed this new system to improve the license-buying experience both online and in stores,” said DNR Director Dan Eichinger. “We spent more than two years planning and developing a modern license sales system that offers up-to-date, convenient and cost-effective services for our customers and retail partners.”

Features of the new license sales system include:

• A barcode scanner wand at retailer locations, which will allow license agents to speed up the sales process by quickly scanning customer driver’s licenses – including nonresidents – rather than typing in customer information.
• A more streamlined buying and selling process both online and in stores – for example, customers will only have the option to buy licenses for which they are eligible, meaning they shouldn’t be able to accidentally buy the wrong license and pay the wrong amount.
• The opportunity for online customers to create a profile, access their order history, reprint previously purchased, non-kill tag items and set up voluntary auto-renewal of fishing licenses.
• Purchases consolidated on the printed license, which means fewer licenses for customers to carry and potentially lose.
• A QR code on the license to encrypt the customer identification number for increased security.

The DNR license sales system serves about 2 million customers a year, online and through 1,500 retail agent locations throughout Michigan, issuing nearly 4 million licenses and permits and processing roughly $77 million in revenue. Read more

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)

“Get outside and blow the stink off!” were my grandfather’s harsh words when I got on his nerves some 60 years ago. I don’t know about the “stink” part of that command, but he had a way of chasing us kids outdoors. Back then it was perfectly natural to be physically active and I thrived on the competitive nature of sports and anything out of doors; it just wasn’t anything anyone really had to force us to do.

However, a disturbing trend ominously portends a bleak forecast in the well-being of our younger generation. Outdoor Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), released the latest Outdoor Participation Report, showing about half the U.S. population participated in outdoor recreation at least once in 2018, including hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing and biking among many more outdoor activities. Unfortunately, the report illustrates that half the U.S. population does not participate in outdoor recreation at all.

That sure explains why I see vacant baseball fields in the summer months now, whereas in the past we scrambled on our bicycles to claim these sandlot spaces for a pick-up game.

“Currently, 90 cents of every health care dollar is spent on treating people with chronic disease,” said Jeff Bellows, vice president, corporate citizenship and public affairs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. “We need to attack the root causes of these diseases, for example, by helping people adopt healthier lifestyles to make sure they are giving themselves and their families the best chance at a healthy life.”

“At a time when Americans are experiencing an epidemic of chronic disease, it’s troubling to know that nearly half do not engage in outdoor recreation at all – something we know helps improve overall quality of life,” said Patricia Rojas-Ungar, vice president of government affairs at OIA. “

Troubling trends include the following:

• Less than 20 percent of Americans recreated outside at least once a week.
• Americans went on one billion fewer outdoor outings in 2018 than they did in 2008.
• Kids went on 15 percent fewer annual outings in 2018 than they did in 2012.

Reversing these current tendencies begins at home and we need more adults like my grandfather, if ever we are to release ourselves from the trappings of physical inactivity.

Sometimes all it takes is a nudge or a simple invitation to participate in a simple fishing excursion or walk in the woods. Opening these conceptual doors can open eyes in a manner that no pretend-video experience has the potential to do.

Today, we see myriad TV commercials touting new wonder drugs to combat what ails us. “Tell your doctor…” they exclaim and take a pill. And, when a person gets too overweight and lazy, it’s the easy way out – that is until years later we learn about all the serious side effects of doing just that.

An ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, so get out there and blow the stink off.

Passport gives year-round access to state parks and other outdoor recreation opportunities, and an easy way to help protect natural resources for the next generation

If you told Michigan residents that for just $1 a month they could enjoy vehicle access to more than 100 state parks and recreation areas, 140 state forest campgrounds, hundreds of miles of state trails, historic sites, family-friendly events, hundreds of boating access sites and other outdoor spaces, most likely would jump at the chance. Starting March 1, they can.