Water on your land: wetlands, drains, ponds, and the beach

This page gives general information, not legal advice. Water rules depend on the property and the proposed work. Before digging, filling, or starting a dispute, contact EGLE’s district office, your county drain commissioner, or a Michigan attorney.

The short version

Water rules can be hard to see from the ground. The soggy back corner may be a state-regulated wetland. The ditch along the road may be a legal “county drain” you can be assessed for. And the public may walk the Great Lakes shore below the ordinary high-water mark.

Wetlands: permits before shovels

You need an EGLE permit before filling, dredging, draining, or building in a regulated wetland. That applies on private land, regardless of zoning — and not knowing it was a wetland is no defense. What’s regulated, generally: wetlands connected to or near lakes and streams, plus larger isolated ones (five acres and up). The state’s wetland inventory maps are clues, not answers. EGLE’s fee-based Wetland Identification Program provides a site-specific determination before you buy or build.

Farming exemptions exist — established agricultural activities, grazing, farm and stock ponds, drain maintenance. They are limited, and expanding into a new wetland can require a permit. A few local governments also regulate smaller wetlands, so both permits can apply. Penalties for unpermitted fill include restoration orders. Check before beginning earthwork.

The county drain commissioner

Under the Drain Code of 1956, your county’s elected drain commissioner maintains hundreds of established “county drains.” Many of them look like ordinary creeks and ditches. Work on a drain is financed by special assessments on every parcel in the drainage district — which is why you can get a bill for a ditch you’ve never seen. Projects start by petition, often from a handful of landowners or a municipality. There are public hearings, and the appeal windows are measured in days, not months. If a drain notice shows up in your mail, act on the letter, not the eventual bill. One useful interaction: PA 116-enrolled farmland is exempt from many special assessments. Another reason that program matters.

Ponds

Small upland farm and stock ponds are generally exempt from wetland permitting. Dig in a wetland or near a stream and you’re in permit territory. Bigger projects can trigger dam-safety and soil-erosion rules too. Contact EGLE’s district office before excavation begins.

Docks, seawalls, and inland shorelines

Inland lakes and streams (Part 301 of the environmental code) and Great Lakes bottomlands (Part 325) have their own permit systems. They cover dredging, seawalls, major dock projects, and beach grooming. Know the names, and call EGLE before structural work at the water line.

Riparian basics, and the beach-walking rule

Waterfront (“riparian”) owners on inland lakes generally own the bottomlands to the middle of the lake. They share reasonable use of the surface with other riparians and the lawfully launched public. Public road ends at lakes are generally access points, not public beaches or places for private docks.

Glass v. Goeckel (Michigan Supreme Court, 2005) held that the public trust covers the Great Lakes shore below the ordinary high-water mark. Walking along that shore is lawful, even in front of private cottages. Lounging, bonfires, and crossing private land to reach the beach are different questions and are not part of that walking right. Beach safety and beach collecting cover the practical side of that strip.

Who decides

EGLE: wetlands, streams, and shorelines. Your county drain commissioner: drains and their assessments — find yours through your county’s page. The courts: riparian disputes.

The official sources

EGLE’s Water Resources Division pages cover wetlands and shoreline permits, including the Wetland Identification Program. Your drain commissioner’s office explains any drain letter. MSU Extension covers the farm exemptions well. Start at Owning Land in Michigan.