Department of Natural Resources: Encroachment Initiative

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Department of Natural Resources has organized a new encroachment initiative to settle longstanding issues of property lines. Craig is joined by DNR Encroachment Specialist, Lori Burford.

The people of Michigan own more than 4.5 million acres of land that is managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). For decades, there have been encroachments on the public's land across Michigan. These encroachments, or trespasses, hinder the DNR's ability to properly protect, manage and maintain the public's land. Encroachments also remove the land from public use. Encroachments range from structural trespasses (entire barns, garages, or homes or portions of structures built on public land) to non-structural (signs, gardens, fencing) and historic (in place since before 1973) trespasses. In the past, extensive staff time and resources has been spent dealing with encroachment issues, and often the cases ended up in court.

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Photo courtesy of _Michigan.gov