By Hope Bolinger | Echo
Entering a state park for free is just a library card swipe away.
Celebrating Indiana's state park centennial last year, libraries and state parks across Indiana partnered up and sent 240 park passes to each of the Indiana state libraries, one per library. However, according to Gas City Library Director Nancy Bryant, libraries could purchase an additional pass for $50. These 240 park passes allow for a visitor to enter through a state park gate for free, waiving the $7 entry cost, allowing access to any of Indiana's 32 state park properties. Of course, Bryant mentions this excludes attractions in those parks which may require an additional fee.
Given the success of the pass last year, the program continued into 2017. Jacob Speer, Indiana's state librarian, said they hope to prolong the park passes into 2018.
"We're working with the DNR, (Indiana Department of Natural Resources), to extend the availability." Speer asserted how much he appreciates the collaboration: "We're really happy to partner with the DNR to bring something that benefits all Indiana residents."
The process to check out the park pass for a week follows a few simple steps.
Bryant said in order to check out a pass at the Gas City Library, one must ask for the pass's availability at the reference desk. Speer says some libraries allow for visitors to reserve the pass in advance, but the Gas City Library does not permit this. Bryant says they give the passes on a first come first serve basis. She asserted although the pass has been used frequently this year, some weeks have gone by when no one held it.
If someone approaches the reference desk, and the pass wrapped in a plastic case happens to be there, the visitor must use a library card to check out the pass.
"I think that was something misleading in the information about the passes," Bryant said. "But we have to run (the pass) through our system. People do have to have one of our library cards."
After the librarian enters the library card information, the visitor can use the pass for the next week. When returning a week later, the library will ask the user to answer a survey of three or four questions, a new addition to the program in 2017.
Although these passes allow access to the state parks, Mike Guebert, earth and environmental science department chair, says the under-10-dollar discount may not offer that great of a deal.
"The park pass allows free entrance, but the entrance for an Indiana vehicle is only $7, so not that much savings. Especially because the gas money will be quite a bit more than $7 if you drive very far."
Still, even if the students and faculty venture in a vehicle with a free park pass or not, Guebert encouraged the Taylor community to visit the parks in the backdrop of fall weather. He warned most will be busy, such as Turkey Run, McCormick's Creek, Spring Mill and Pokagon. However, others such as Shades host fewer people if visitors arrive earlier in the day.
Abby Palmisano ('17), one of the students on Guebert's annual summer science trip, also encouraged the Taylor community to spend a day in the parks. After visiting Turkey Run's large rock formations, she extolled the beauty Indiana's nature has to offer.
"I thought that Indiana didn't have anything besides cornfields but that's not quite true," Palmisano said. "We tend to romanticize other places and think that the place in which I live has nothing to offer, but with a world created by a God like ours, that's kind of impossible."
Nearby State Parks and Reservoirs
Locations provided by Mike Guebert.Nearby parks
Mounds State ParkLocation: Anderson, IN
Special features: Earthworks created by Native Americans such as the Adena Hopewell, including the largest earthworks, formed around 160 B.C.
Location: Bluffton, IN
Special features: Paved bicycle trails, a live bison exhibit and the Wabash River, which forms the southwest border of the park
Nearby State Reservoirs
MississinewaLocation: Peru, IN
Special features: A 3,200-acre lake, suitable for activities of fishing and boating, plus several hiking trails wrap around the reservoir
Location: Andrews, IN
Special features: Bridle trails, biking trails and 12,000 acres of land and water
Location: Huntington, IN
Special features: Fishing, hunting, wildlife watching, mushroom hunting and a shooting range
