Maine Free Lifetime Veteran State Park and Museum Pass

This is one of the few benefits in this catalog that asks for nothing but residency and a discharge. A Maine resident veteran with an honorable discharge, or a general discharge under honorable conditions, receives a free day-use lifetime pass to Maine state parks, museums and historic sites. There is no disability rating test, no wartime service test, and no age test. Read day use literally. The pass covers entry, not camping, and camping fees are charged separately. The separate free camping arrangement in this catalog is a different programme with a much narrower gate. The exclusions matter for trip planning, because several of the places people think of as Maine parks are not in the programme. Acadia National Park is federal and is not covered; the federal America the Beautiful military and Gold Star pass is the one to use there. Baxter State Park is governed by its own trust and is not covered. The Allagash Wilderness Waterway, the Penobscot Corridor, the Penobscot Narrows Observatory and the Maine Wildlife Park are also outside the pass. Applications go to the Bureau of Veterans' Services rather than to the parks department, and processing takes roughly two to three weeks. Apply before the season rather than at the gate. A separate day-use pass exists for serving members. A Maine resident on active duty may obtain a free annual day-use pass covering the service member, their spouse and their children, renewed each calendar year, on proof of active duty and Maine residency. That one runs through the Maine National Guard's facilities office. Because the veteran pass is lifetime and the active duty pass is annual, a service member who separates should apply for the veteran pass rather than continuing to renew the annual one.