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Home > Metro
Detroit > Outdoors
> MetroParks
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The Huron-Clinton
Metropolitan Authority Metroparks is a regional special
park district encompassing the counties of Wayne, Oakland,
Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston. It was sanctioned by the
Michigan State Legislature in Act No.147 of the Public Acts of
1939, and was approved in 1940.
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The Board of Commissioners
held its first meeting in 1941 and began funding the Metro-Parks
in 1942.The
governing body
of the HCMA is a seven-member Board of
Commissioners. Two of the members are selected by the governor
to
represent the district at large, and the other five are selected
by the Board of Commissioners from
each of the five member
counties. The Metro-Parks are funded
principally by a property tax levy, limited to one-quarter of one mill
(currently the rate
is .2236 mills), and by revenues from vehicle entry fees and
other user fees for various facilities such as golf courses.
Currently, 13 Metroparks covering almost
24,000 acres, serve about 9 million visitors annually. The
Metroparks are located along the Huron and Clinton rivers,
providing a greenbelt around the Detroit metropolitan area. The
parks are generally more than 1,000 acres each, with Stony Creek
and Kensington being more than 4,300 acres. The Metroparks
provide an ever-growing variety of outdoor recreational and
educational activities the year round in safe, clean
environments. Picnicking, water-related activities, hiking,
nature study, biking, golf, winter sports and a host of special
outdoor programs and events give the urban population of
southeast Michigan a natural respite from their modern,
stress-filled world.
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