What’s happening: Isabella County Parks and Recreation is transitioning to a new online registration system for the 2023 camping season for Coldwater Lake Family Park, Deerfield Nature Park, and the Herrick Recreation Area. Compared to the previous registration process, Opening Day will not be held in person for the 2023 camping season. While Isabella County Parks has offered online reservations in the past, this year they are transitioning from their old online reservation system to a new one, powered by Camis, Inc. – the same company that the Michigan State Parks uses for their online system.
Campers can currently create their new
online account and browse availability. For those wishing to make an online registration, campers are required to create new accounts in order to register.
Online registration will begin Monday, Feb. 27, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. From that date, until March 7, reservations are only able to be made online.
Telephone reservations will be taken beginning Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.
Why it’s important: There are several new features that will be available to campers using the online registration system. According to Miranda Walker, the interim director of Isabella County Parks and Recreation, “Campers using the new online reservation system will now be able to check site availability at all three campgrounds (Coldwater, Herrick and Deerfield) using a Map View, Calendar View, and List View.”
Walker added, “These three different views make it very user friendly when trying to find specific sites that fit a certain camper length for specific dates. The Map View gives an overall campground view of what sites are reserved/available based on the dates you are looking for while the calendar view dives into which individual dates are reserved/available.”
Those wanting to create a reservation can now do so at any time, increasing the amount of campers that park staff is able to serve.
“Campers can choose to make a reservation online using a desktop or laptop computer, or the mobile-optimized site,” states Walker. “Users will now have complete control over their reservation, including being able to modify or cancel their reservation online without having to call the Parks Main Office Monday through Friday during office hours. They will be able to modify their reservation from home at any time of day and be refunded the way in which they paid less any cancellation fees.”
For campers who still want to make reservations by phone, Walker notes that the Isabella County Parks Main Office will still remain available for support Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
How to register: The registration system can be found on the Isabella County Parks and Recreation
website. To create a new account and browse available sites, go to the “Reservations” tab, then “Online Reservations.” Then, read through the posted policies and click “
Reserve Online” at the end of the page.
Isabella County Parks and Recreations encourages those registering to read the posted messages on the reservation page, as there have been new policy and procedural changes with the shift to online registration.
Any questions regarding reservations should be directed to the Isabella County Parks Main Office at (989) 317-4083.
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