Brown County State Park is getting a small share of the $57 million in “deferred maintenance” money which the State Budget Committee has earmarked for state parks, forests and trails this year.

BCSP’s portion amounts to about $2.2 million. The projects include:

• working on structures/bridges on Trails 1 and 2 ($125,000) and adding stone to maintain horse trails ($500,000);
• working on the Strahl Lake and Ogle Lake dams to “address seepage and erosion issues” ($450,000);
• enlarging the program room at the Nature Center and replacing the exhibits ($1 million); and
• improving accessibility at a playground in the park ($125,000).

JB Brindle, director of communications for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said that the timetable is yet to be determined for those projects. Brown County State Park Property Manager Doug Baird estimated that the state would want to see significant progress within a year.

Most of this work will be contracted out, not carried out by park employees, Baird said.

No projects are planned in Yellowwood State Forest for this round of funding, Brindle said.

This is the second round of significant investment in recent years that Brown County State Park has received to address maintenance.

“All state parks are behind on maintenance from what they could really use. We could come up with millions of dollars (in projects) but there’s no realistic expectation really of getting that kind of money,” Baird said.

“… But this is the second round of deferred maintenance money that’s been appropriated, so we’re happy to get anything we can get.”

In April, the park’s Abe Martin Lodge reopened after receiving a $4.5 million renovation, also funded with an appropriation of deferred maintenance dollars. All 54 rooms in the east wing of the inn, built in 1987, received new flooring, bathrooms, plumbing, lighting and furnishings, including large smart-screen TVs. That renovation work was funded as part of an appropriation of more than $29 million from the General Assembly.

The General Assembly added $150 million to the 2020-2021 budget during the 2019 legislative session for deferred maintenance, with the intention of at least $100 million going to the DNR to start overdue upkeep of its more than 100 properties, said Mike Smith, Department of Natural Resources deputy director and chief financial officer.

“DNR, along with many other state agencies, in candor, has probably never fully recovered from the 2008 recession,” Smith said. “Some programs were reduced and cut immediately. We’re trying to catch up a little bit.”

Seventy-five percent of Indiana state parks’ operating budgets come from gate fees, camping and other user fees, while the remaining 25 percent — operating expenses and capital improvements — is paid from the state’s general fund.

This $52.2 million is the biggest chunk in capital-project funding the department has seen in years, Smith said. Across the state, this money will resurface bike, walking and horse trails across 20 sites; renovate several rooms and HVAC systems in state park inns; and upgrade more than 40 playgrounds to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Our goal is to have at least one ADA-accessible playground on every property,” Smith said.

BCSP already has one ADA-accessible playground, but another one will be renovated to include that equipment, Baird said.

Brown County State Park is one of the most-visited state parks in Indiana — even more so since the pandemic prompted more people to get outside. All that love and traffic take a toll on its attractions and facilities.

A massive stone staircase and retaining wall on Trail 2 are currently undergoing reconstruction due to deterioration, but that is being paid for with different funding; it is not coming out of the $125,000 recently allocated for trail work, Baird said. Those structures were built in the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps members.

Several creek bridges on Trail 2 — which circles the Abe Martin Lodge and family cabins, and passes the North Lookout Tower — also were built by those Depression-era crews. Baird was unsure if those will be addressed with new money or not.

The condition of the dams at Strahl Lake and Ogle Lake will be studied. Baird knows of seepage at the toe of the Strahl dam — which he described as “kind of a normal occurrence” — but if anything needs to be done to fix either dam, that will become known.

The Nature Center displays had been maintained, but not updated much or replaced since the 1980s. Money is now being allocated to do that work.

In 2020, state parks saw a record-breaking revenue of $40 million because of the public’s increased interest in outdoor activities during the height of the pandemic, Smith said.

BCSP also saw that pattern, Baird said. Even without two months’ worth of revenue in 2020, when parks were not charging gate fees and camping was temporarily closed, the park still topped its previous revenue record, “and we’re doing better than that this year so far,” he said.

This $82 million from the state in the last two years is overdue for the department’s aging properties, Smith said.

If needed, DNR could return to the State Budget Committee next year to ask for the remaining $18 million in the deferred maintenance budget.

“We have over 100 properties statewide, with numerous buildings, trails and playgrounds,” Smith said. “We’re just trying to bring them up to par.”

In addition to money for maintenance projects, the State Budget Committee recently released $5 million to start designs for an inn at Potato Creek State Park near South Bend. It will be the first new inn to be built at an Indiana state park since 1939.

Reporting from the Associated Press and Emily Ketterer of the Indiana Business Journal contributed to this story.