History of Shoreline Management Policy in Michigan

In June 2003, Michigan's Legislature passed and the Governor signed the first substantive amendments to weaken the state's wetland law since it was passed nearly 25 years ago. Public Act 14 (PA 14) amended Michigan's wetland law to allow certain types of "beach grooming" activities on exposed Great Lakes bottomlands and to authorize limited removal of coastal wetland vegetation in specified pilot areas under a letter of authorization from the DEQ director.

To some, the law was innocuous-"beach grooming" sounds benign. However, when you consider that vegetation growing on exposed bottomlands is the key to the biological and ecological functions including fish and wildlife habitat, erosion and flood control, and water quality maintenance, then by definition, vegetation clearing and mechanized grooming facilitated by PA 14 can greatly impact the functions and values of Great Lakes coastal wetlands and ultimately the health of our Lakes.

One of the only redeeming qualities of the legislation was that the provisions authorizing the beach maintenance exemptions and the expedited permit for vegetation removal had "sunset" dates which means they eventually expire. The letter of authorization from the DEQ director expired on June 5, 2006 and the exemptions for beach maintenance expired in November 2007.

The Legislature also required the DEQ to evaluate these activities and report results and recommendations to the legislature regarding future changes in the law. The DEQ requested the assistance of leading Great Lakes coastal wetlands research scientists in providing a scientific evaluation of the impacts of beach maintenance and vegetation removal on coastal wetlands. Research during 2004 and 2005 by these scientists proved that the activities authorized by PA 14 may have substantial, long-lasting negative impacts on Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

Based upon the results of the research, the MDEQ created a new General Permit category for limited shoreline management activities effective August 1, 2007.