Michigan ends state park fees

The Detroit Free Press reports on the new Michigan bill that ends state park fees to be replaced by a $10 car registration surcharge.

Motorists would pay the extra fee instead of paying $24 for an annual state park sticker or $6 for a daily permit. Also, boaters no longer would pay fees at 838 access sites.

Park officials could check license plates to see whether motorists paid the fee; violators could be fined up to $100.

Out-of-state residents would continue to pay $29 for an annual permit and $8 for a daily pass.

Read the full story: Senate passes bill to end park fees, add surcharge

Photo montage by Michigan Department of Natural Resources website

Enjoy nature by camping and using a green bathroom

The Associated Press reports on the nation's first eco-friendly bathroom in a state park.

Campers at Grand Haven State Park in Michigan can now use the environmentally-friendly toilet and shower facilities that debuted in May.

Its green design features include low-flow toilets, timer-controlled showers, a sanitary sewer line and is partially powered by solar panels. It will use 40 percent less water than the old bathroom.

Michigan hopes to replace all of its state park restrooms with the green model.

Read the full story: Campground restrooms becoming ecologically correct

The greening of national museums

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a growing trend of museums turning "green."

Correspondent Yvonne Zipp writes that Michigan's Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) is the very first to get the Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and En­­viron­­mental Design) certification.

Others such as Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art will also join GRAM with a Gold status.

Pittsburgh's Phipps Conservatory is so environmentally friendly that it has even banned bottled water.

"The director of the Phipps, Richard Piacentini, can describe every step the conservatory has taken to become more environmentally sustainable.

This fall, the conservatory will break ground on a greenhouse that Piacentini and his team hope will become the first Living Building in the United States – one that is completely self-sustaining and relies exclusively on renewable energy.

Organic waste will power the fuel cell that supplies the building with electricity, and a combination of constructed wetlands and a 'living machine' (with anaerobic bacteria) will treat the sewage for the entire complex."

Read the full story: Museums sprout 'green' architecture