HANCOCK TOWNSHIP - The attendance at Michigan state campgrounds this past summer has been fairly good although down compared to last year due to a poor economy and high gasoline prices, and at Upper Peninsula parks attendance was about 50 percent less than at Lower Peninsula parks.

Mike Halt, Michigan Department of Natural Resources unit supervisor at McLain State Park north of Hancock, said whether attendance there was high or low depended on which week a visit was made.

"It was up and down all summer," Halt said. "The fall was a little better than last year."

During the fall color tour season last year rain kept attendance low, Halt said, but this year was relatively dry.

McLain State Park is open until the end of October, Halt said, and there are a few campers there this weekend, some of whom are probably visiting the area for the Lake Superior Performance Rally automobile race.

Halt said some of the park's campers use tents, and some use recreational vehicles.

"In the fall, it's mostly RVs," he said.

Dan Dowdy, unit supervisor at Baraga State Park in Baraga, said the 46 camp sites on the south end of the park are closed, but the 70 sites on the north end will stay open until the end of October.

"We'll have to look at the weather to see how long we keep it open," he said.

Dowdy said he doesn't have the exact numbers for attendance at the park this year, but he thinks it's less than last year.

"I know we're down," he said.

However, Dowdy said the park has four special events during the year, such as the recent Harvest Festival, and those bring in a temporary increase in attendance.

During camping season, Dowdy said there is a wide variety of campers using the park.

"We get all types of units, from tents to coaches," he said.

The park is open until early November, but Dowdy said there are a few bird and bear hunters in attendance.

"Things are slowing down now that the (tree) colors are gone," he said.

Harold Herta, chief of resource management for the DNR parks and recreation division in Lansing, said although a final report on numbers of visitors won't be completed until sometime in November, system-wide, attendance at the parks is down about 5 percent. In the U.P. parks, attendance is about 10 percent down from last year.

"The trend has been down (for the last two years)," Herta said.

Gasoline prices are a significant cause of the decline in attendance at state parks, Herta said.

"That's the obvious reason," he said.

The generally poor economy plus the facts that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country and is losing residents also played a big part in the decline in attendance, Herta said.

"Most of our visitors are from the state," he said. "When you have a declining population that's out of work, they're not recreating."

As at Baraga State Park, Herta said all parks in the system have special events to draw visitors.

"We do our 500 special events, and that number grows every year," he said. "It works, because we're not down (in attendance) as much as we could be."

Lee VerBerkmoes, supervisor at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park in Copper Harbor, said the drop in attendance there was fairly significant.

"We're down about 15 percent from last year," he said.

Fuel prices are big reason for the drop, VerBerkmoes said, but so is the park's location.

"We're kind of far out," he said.

When fuel prices peaked in August, that hurt attendance, also.

"Normally, it's our biggest month," he said.

VerBerkmoes said it may be that camping may be declining generally as a form of recreation.

"What I heard is that people were camping less and taking fewer trips," he said. "There's a cultural shift where people aren't camping as much."

Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com.