{"id":18678,"date":"2017-11-10T10:04:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T15:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=18678"},"modified":"2017-11-30T14:29:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T19:29:16","slug":"governor-larry-hogan-announces-military-veterans-to-receive-free-admission-to-maryland-state-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/11\/10\/governor-larry-hogan-announces-military-veterans-to-receive-free-admission-to-maryland-state-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Larry Hogan Announces Military Veterans to Receive Free Admission to Maryland State Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Complimentary Benefit Extends to Residents and Nonresidents<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 385px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/6\/5620\/22289094832_fc7cb14678_n.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of an osprey, by Emily Carter Mitchell\" width=\"375\" height=\"350\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proud to be an Osprey by Emily Carter Mitchell<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In honor of Veterans Day, Governor Larry Hogan announced today that all military veterans, including residents and nonresidents, will be granted free admission and entrance to the network of 72 state parks managed by the <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Park Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The governor\u2019s announcement directly impacts over 414,000 veterans living in Maryland with the highest concentrations residing in Prince George\u2019s, Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Montgomery counties, and Baltimore City, and the region\u2019s more than 1.4 million veterans.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can never thank our brave servicemen and women enough for what they have done and continue to do for our citizens, our state, and our nation,\u201d said Governor Hogan. \u201cBy providing veterans this complimentary benefit, which encourages them to access and enjoy our great outdoors, we hope to express our sincere appreciation, gratitude, and respect for their service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Effective immediately, the governor\u2019s announcement will eliminate park admission fees for all veterans at every single state park, including <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/eastern\/assateague.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assateague State Park<\/a> in Worcester County, <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/deepcreek.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deep Creek Lake State Park<\/a> in Garrett County, <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/southern\/pointlookout.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Point Lookout State Park<\/a> in St. Mary\u2019s County, and <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/southern\/sandypoint.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sandy Point State Park<\/a> in Anne Arundel County. Free day-use park admission is already provided to active duty military personnel and members of the Maryland National Guard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I want to thank the governor for his bold action, leadership, and support for our armed forces,\u201d said Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton. \u201cBy encouraging more veterans to engage and experience our state lands and parks, both our citizens and visitors will benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a> offers several initiatives, programs, and special rates for active duty service members, military veterans, prisoners of war and Purple Heart recipients. The department partners with veteran service organizations, such as the Greenwell Foundation, and provides servicemen and women with unique opportunities to boat, fish, and hunt throughout the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Complimentary Benefit Extends to Residents and Nonresidents In honor of Veterans Day, Governor Larry Hogan announced today that all military veterans, including residents and nonresidents, will be granted free admission and entrance to the network of 72 state parks managed by the Maryland Park Service. The governor\u2019s announcement directly impacts over 414,000 veterans living in<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/11\/10\/governor-larry-hogan-announces-military-veterans-to-receive-free-admission-to-maryland-state-parks\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3171,11,3172,12],"tags":[2971,3001,2969,2911,3488,2949,4004,2952,4003,2907,3410,3110,3332,2942,3004,3993,2910],"class_list":["post-18678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-boating","category-fisheries","category-hunting","category-parks","tag-anne-arundel-county","tag-assateague-state-park","tag-baltimore-city","tag-baltimore-county","tag-deep-creek-lake-state-park","tag-garrett-county","tag-greenwell-foundation","tag-larry-hogan","tag-maryland-national-guard","tag-montgomery-county","tag-point-lookout-state-park","tag-prince-georges-county","tag-sandy-point-state-park","tag-st-marys-county","tag-u-s-navy","tag-veterans-day","tag-worcester-county"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18678"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19003,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678\/revisions\/19003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}