visit your state parks license plate

LICENSE PLATES

Proudly identify yourself as a champion of Colorado State Parks by purchasing the Colorado State Parks license plate for your car, truck and/or motorcycle (plates cannot be ordered for trailers). This plate demonstrates your support for the unique beauty and critical importance of the amazing system of State Parks throughout our great State of Colorado. You can feel good knowing that 100% of your donation will be placed into a dedicated endowment fund with the Colorado Parks Foundation. All of the endowment fund’s interest earned will be used for the benefit of Colorado State Parks.

    Make a one-time, tax deductible donation of $44 (online) to: The Colorado Parks Foundation.

Please note: The name on the PIN# must exactly match the name listed on your vehicle’s current registration. If it does not match, the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) will be unable to issue you a State Parks license plate.​

You will first receive a system generated email receipt verifying your donation.

Next you will receive an email from the CPF within 48 business hours with a DMV assigned PIN# as proof of payment from the Colorado Parks Foundation .  The PIN# and your name will be in the system at the DMV.  

Take your PIN#, your current registration and your current vehicle license plates (state issued temporary tags are acceptable also) to the DMV.

Please note when you register your vehicle: The State of Colorado also requires a one-time $50 fee (that you will make at the DMV) for the purchase of any specialized license plate, in addition to the standard cost for licensing your vehicle.

Your Colorado vehicle registration will soon include a state parks pass fee if you don't opt out

Colorado vehicle registration fees fund numerous transportation programs, including road construction. Starting next year, those fees will also fund state parks — and give you a discounted pass to visit them.

Unless you opt out.

A state Senate bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis created the Keep Colorado Wild Pass to help fund a state park system that saw 17 million visitors in 2020, a 30% increase from the previous year. Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not receive taxpayer money.

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding the pass. For even more information, visit the Colorado Parks and Wildlife FAQ page .

Which vehicle registrations include Colorado's state parks pass option?

Those registering passenger vehicles, light trucks, motorcycles and recreational vehicles will automatically pay $29 for the pass unless they choose to opt out. The pass option will be available for purchase at the same time as you pay for your annual vehicle registration.

How does the discounted pass compare to a regular annual pass to Colorado state parks?

It's $51 cheaper.

How long is the discounted pass valid?

For one year or until the current vehicle registration expires.

What about registering other vehicles?

The pass option will be applicable to each passenger vehicle and will not be transferable between vehicles. Purchasing the pass is not required when registering other vehicles like snowmobiles, boats or OHVs. 

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How do I opt out of buying Colorado's state park pass with my vehicle registration?

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will work with the Department of Revenue, Office of Information Technology and county clerks statewide to develop an efficient and transparent opt-out process.

How much will I be charged for a state park entrance fee if I opt out?

You will be charged the existing fee of $10 for a daily pass and $80 for an annual pass.

What are the economic impacts of the pass?

The pass revenue will replace and supplement existing daily and annual parks pass revenue that supports state parks staffing and operations.

The idea behind the pass is to offer a lower-cost park pass option, expanding accessibility to the outdoors for more Coloradans, while generating revenue above the current level. 

In fiscal year 2020, the 43-park state park system generated $22 million in funding from entrance fees.

Colorado has more than 5 million passenger vehicles required to be registered annually. The pass will generate about the same amount if 15% of those vehicle owners opt to buy the $29 pass.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said an expected increase in visitation spurred by the discounted pass will likely result in increased operating costs at parks, offsetting some of those revenue gains.

Will all the funding from the pass go to state parks?

Up to $32.5 million will be directed to the existing 43 state parks. If available, the next $2.5 million will fund search and rescue operations and another $1 million will fund avalanche safety and awareness.

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Revenue above $36 million will be split equally between the Parks Cash Fund for projects like building new state parks and trails and the Wildlife Cash Fund to manage vulnerable species, including wolves.

Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

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Thank you supporting the Colorado Parks Foundation! 

• Please fill out this form to register for a Colorado Parks License Plate. 
• Once completed, you will receive a system generated receipt- note this is not your PIN#. 
• Within 48 business hours, you will receive a separate email that contains a PIN#  to take to the DMV so they can process your license plate request.  This PIN# can also be used for online registrations. 
• Please note: DMV offices do not have license plates in stock so they may issue you a temporary tag until you receive your new license plates.  They normally arrive within 14 days but can be longer due to COVID-19.  Please contact your local DMV office directly if your plates take longer than expected.  

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Outdoors | 2023 vehicle plate renewals will cost an extra $29 for a state parks pass, you can opt out. but if you accept the fee, you get free entry to colorado’s state parks.

Do you want to spend $29 in 2023 for an annual pass that will grant you entry into Colorado’s 42 state parks? Starting on Jan. 1, you’ll have to decide, one way or the other, before you can renew your vehicle registration.

The $29 charge for a Keep Colorado Wild pass will be added to every renewal along with the usual vehicle registration fees. Car owners can choose to pay it or opt out.

If they opt out, they can subtract that $29 from the bill. If they accept, they get a vehicle registration card showing the $29 was paid. That registration card then becomes their ticket into state parks for the 12 months while that registration is valid. Because it’s tied to motor vehicle registration, park entry applies only to that vehicle.

The program will result in a substantial savings for folks who have been purchasing annual parks passes, which cost $80 in 2022.

But for less frequent park visitors, it will take three to four visits to pay off. Daily passes currently run $9 at most state parks. Nine parks, including Chatfield, Boyd Lake, Eldorado, Golden Gate, Roxborough and Staunton, charge $10. Cherry Creek charges $11. By comparison, entry to Colorado’s four national parks runs $25-$30 per day.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say they expect to generate revenue from the Keep Colorado Wild pass that will be used to protect wildlife habitats and help the system keep up with increased visitation pressures and “improve visitation systems at existing state parks which may include shuttle services, timed-entry reservations or other tools yet to be determined.” Some revenue will be used to fund search and rescue teams and avalanche safety programs.

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Step Up To The Plate

• Posted on May 21, 2020
• by coloradooutdoorscontributor

Please excuse Michael Mauro if you catch him staring at your rear bumper. Mauro has enjoyed some extra-long looks at your car’s license plate (what else did you think we meant?) ever since Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) issued its own designer license plate. That’s because he took the photos of the elk the agency used on the plate. 

“It’s pretty cool, man,” said Mauro, who specializes in stock wildlife photography. “I can’t drive anywhere without seeing them.”

That’s partly because Mauro’s looking for them, but it’s also because the plates are a hit. The state’s sold nearly 20,000 plates since they were issued in 2016. That’s an amazing number considering the state requires 3,000 signatures from residents saying they would buy them as a reassurance they won’t go to waste, and the public can choose a plate to support many other popular causes, including adopting a shelter pet, Colorado’s national and state parks, breast cancer, Broncos charities and the Colorado Rockies. Yet the Wildlife Sporting plates are in the top 10 of all-time sales. 

These speciality plates cost $25 a year to renew. Many of the earlier Colorado specialty plates had one-time payments, which is why they turned out to be not very good fundraising tools. This year, the first funds from the CPW plate sales were issued, provided $450,000 to the agency that it used for its Fishing is Fun program and funding shooting ranges. That money should keep rolling in, as residents have to renew their plates every year.

Mauro took the photos at Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s one of his best spots to photograph in the fall because if the elk cross over a hill just as the sun’s rising, he gets a beautiful silhouette of the animals. That’s right: The elk used on the plate are actual photos, not photoshopped cutouts of an elk’s shadow. 

“It’s hard to get the right spot,” Mauro said. “But that spot can be great if you get it right.”

The plate was a response to the outdoor public’s outcry against officials cracking down on recreational shooting, in addition to finding a funding source for the cash-strapped Colorado Parks and Wildlife organization to help promote hunting and fishing. 

CPW identified early on that revenue from the plate could go to Fishing is Fun, which gives grants for improving areas for angling, typically by city recreational departments, and to build or improve shooting ranges. 

But the plate also offers a chance for people to show their pride in supporting the outdoors, said Tim Mauck, deputy director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. In that sense, speciality plates are like fancier, larger bumper stickers, only ones that also raise money for the cause, not just promote it. Mauck, who also once served as the legislative liaison for the then-Colorado Division of Wildlife years ago, helped get the plate approved by the Colorado General Assembly.  

“We wanted to provide a chance for people to show their identity,” Mauck said. “This goes back to that message that we can promote hunting and fishing conservation, but then also it’s a very elegant opportunity to provide funding for those gateways as well.”

It was important, then, for CPW to come up with a license plate that was attractive as well as stately, and one with a clear message.

“My goal was to come up with a license plate that you’d be proud to have on your car,” said Tony Gurzick, manager of the CPW creative services and marketing section, who oversaw the creation of it. “I wanted it to represent what it meant to be a sportsperson in Colorado.”

That meant, in some ways, it had to stand out. Gurzick oversaw an inhouse design contest. There were many different designs — one had camo print for the sky, which was, thankfully, rejected — and ultimately Wayne Lewis, editor of Colorado Outdoors, balanced an orange sky with elk and the cutthroat trout in the middle. His winning design started with the decision to use real photos, a rare commodity on speciality plates, and that meant Mauro’s elk as well as the greenback cutthroat trout, a fish native to Colorado.

“While the greenback cutthroat is the state fish, the elk isn’t the state animal,” Gurzick said, “but it’s the one that people think of when they think of Colorado. It’s really an iconic image of Colorado.”

All of that had to be crammed onto a plate.

“Designing the plate was like designing an old-style western shirt where all is already done except for the yoke and a pocket,” Lewis said. “You have to squeeze as much creativity you can into about 20 percent of the total area.”

There were challenges beyond the plate limitations, due in part to the standard Colorado mountain silhouettes. Lewis also had to battle, if that’s the right word, with the Department of Corrections, which manufactures the plates.

“They would tweak it and send it back, and then I would change it back as much as possible,” Lewis said. “At one point, they switched out the fish based on Kevin Roger’s [CPW aquatic research scientist] cutthroat photo, and put in a clip-art trout that appeared to be smiling. That didn’t go over well.”

Unfortunately, when you personalize the plate, that fish goes away, Lewis said, but he’s still proud of the effort.

“I think looks have much more to do with sales than the cause,” he said. “There are other conservation plates for worthy causes that I rarely see on vehicles. I think that having constraints can make you focus as a designer. If all you have are a couple square inches, those inches should really impress.”

What is impressive are the boosts to Fishing is Fun and shooting range grants. “Those are known commodities,” said CPW Grants Administrator Jim Guthrie, who runs the sales numbers and is in charge of where the money goes. “Those really hit what the buyers wanted as far as the efforts they’d like to see promoted. Now we’re seeing $30,000 a month from plate renewals. That’s pretty good.”

STEP UP TO THE PLATE ​ Show your support by purchasing a Colorado Sportsperson’s License Plate today.​​ To request this designer plate:  Please contact your  local Depart​ment of Motor Vehicle office  and request the “ wildlife sporting plate ” design. ​For more information, please visit the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website . About:  The license plate was created with  House Bill 12-1275​ .

Written by Dan England. Dan is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to Colorado Outdoors. This article is copyrighted by the author.

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Buy a NH State Parks License Plate

Support the new hampshire state parks system.

Enjoy admission to parks by purchasing a NH State Parks Plate. For an additional fee, the new registration option gives you the opportunity to support NH State Parks . You’ll receive free entry for your car and passengers into New Hampshire State Parks’ day-use areas for one year. In addition, proceeds will be used for operation and maintenance of New Hampshire State Parks.

NH State Parks Plate

Nh state parks/moose plate combination, enjoy access to the following:.

• Bear Brook State Park
• Clough State Park
• Echo Lake Beach in Franconia Notch State Park
• Echo Lake State Park in North Conway
• Ellacoya State Park
• Forest Lake State Park
• Greenfield State Park
• Hampton Beach State Park - South Beach
• Kingston State Park
• Miller State Park
• Mollidgewock State Park
• Monadnock State Park
• Moose Brook State Park
• Mount Sunapee State Park
• Odiorne Point State Park
• Pawtuckaway State Park
• Rollins State Park
• Silver Lake State Park
• Wadleigh State Park
• Wallis Sands State Park
• Weeks State Park
• Wellington State Park
• Wentworth State Park
• White Lake State Park
• Winslow State Park
• Seacoast State Park parking meters from September 16 - June 15, Monday through Friday, except Memorial Day, for no more than 6 hours/per day. Excludes parking for residential use or business employee use, per RSA 216-A:3-g,VI (e) 

Actual Park Plate Images:

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Explore our 93 properties: parks, campgrounds, beaches, natural areas, waysides, historic sites and recreational trails.

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Want to purchase a NC State Parks specialty license plate? Click here to fill out your application.

Proceeds from NC State Parks specialty license plate purchases are donated to North Carolina Friends of State Parks. 

To learn more about specialty license plates visit The Official North Carolina DMV Website.

March 28, 2022

Florida State Parks Specialty License Plate Now Available

By Foundation Staff

The Florida State Parks Foundation announced today that the Florida State Parks specialty license plate is now available at local tag agencies, statewide.

The Florida State Parks specialty license plate has been delivered to tax collector offices and license plate agencies statewide and Floridians who purchased presale vouchers can now redeem them at their local tax collector office or license plate agency. Those who wish to purchase the new specialty plate can also do so at their local office.

The new specialty license plates were authorized during Florida’s 2021 Legislative Session, and the presale process began in October 2021. The Florida State Parks specialty plate is the first plate from the 2021 Legislative Session to meet all design, development, manufacturing, and presale requirements established to begin the distribution process.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requires that all organizations wishing to introduce a new specialty license plate presell 3,000 units before they begin production. The DMW allows two years to meet this goal. The Florida State Parks specialty plate reached 3,000 presales in just 34 days.  $25 from each plate sold will directly benefit the Florida State Parks Foundation’s efforts to protect, preserve, sustain and grow our award-winning state parks.

“This new revenue stream will provide significant and ongoing funding to enable us to protect and preserve our award-winning state park system,” said Tammy Gustafson, Foundation President.

The Florida State Parks Foundation, founded in 1993 as Friends of Florida State Parks and renamed in 2018, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation whose mission is to support and help sustain the Florida Park Service, its 175 award-winning parks and trails, local Friends groups and more than 20,000 park volunteers.

It does this through programs that preserve and protect state parks, educate visitors about the value of state parks, encourage community engagement and active use of state parks, and advocacy.

About the Author: Foundation Staff

Florida State Parks Foundation

The Florida State Parks Foundation preserves, protects, sustains and grows Florida State Parks and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax identification number: 59-3207818.

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Vote on Your Favorite Specialty License Plate

Florida offers more than 100 different specialty license plates to Floridians.

Vehicle owners soon will have an opportunity to show their support for florida’s award-winning state parks..

During the 2021 Florida legislative session, Florida Sen. Dennis Baxley and Rep. Allison Tant championed a bill to create a new specialty license plate to support Florida’s state parks. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law on June 29, 2021.

The Florida State Parks Foundation is leading the way for selecting the art for the new specialty license tag. Now is your chance to vote on your favorite design. Voting will be available throughout August 2021.

After the design is selected, it will be submitted to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to display on their website. The plate must receive at least 3,000 pre-sale orders before manufacturing can begin.

Pre-sales are expected to begin in October.

The money raised from the sale of the licensed plates goes directly to the Florida State Parks Foundation . The foundation, founded in 1993 as Friends of Florida State Parks and renamed in 2018, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation whose mission is to support and help sustain the Florida Park Service, its 175 award-winning parks and trails, local friends groups and more than 20,000 park volunteers.

It does this through advocacy and programs that preserve and protect state parks, educate visitors about the value of state parks, and encourage community engagement and active use. 

The volunteer board of directors represents private and public sectors as well as local and statewide interests.

This article was published in the  Real Florida  ℠ Connection, the Florida State Parks e-newsletter.  Sign-up  to get updates and stories from your state parks the first week of every month. 

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