Michigan Administrative Code
Department - Environmental Quality
Water Resources Division
Great Lakes Submerged Lands
Section R. 322.1001 - Definitions

(a) "Accretion" means land created as a result of natural depositions or placement of a lawful, permanent structure.

(b) "Act" means Act No. 247 of the Public Acts of 1955, as amended, being §322.701 et seq. of the Michigan Compiled Laws, and known as the Great Lakes submerged lands act.

(c) "Agreement" means a binding contract between the state and another person concerning the private use of patented or unpatented bottomlands, except use for "marina purposes" as defined in the act.

(d) "Applicant" means a person applying for a deed, lease, agreement, or permit to use or alter unpatented lands or an agreement or permit for use of water areas over patented lands.

(e) "Bottomland" means lands in the Great Lakes, and bays and harbors thereof, lying below and lakeward of the ordinary high water mark.

(f) "Conveyance" means a deed, lease, agreement, or certificate as referred to in the act.

(g) "Department" means the department of natural resources.

(h) "Dredging" means removal of any mineral, organic, or other material from or within the bottomland or waters of the Great Lakes by any means.

(i) "Filling" means placement of any mineral, organic, or other material on the bottomlands or into the waters of the Great Lakes.

(j) "Ordinary high water mark" means the elevations set by the act. When the soil, configuration of the surface, or vegetation has been altered by man's activity, the ordinary high water mark shall be located where it would have been if this alteration had not occurred.

(k) "Other materials" means any man-made structure or installed device or facility extending over or placed on bottomlands below the ordinary high water mark or extending over or placed into the waters of the Great Lakes, including all of the following:

(l) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, political subdivision, the state, the department, an instrumentality or agency of the state, a political subdivision of an instrumentality or agency of the state, a department or other instrumentality or agency of the federal government, or other legal entity.

(m) "Public trust" means the perpetual duty of the state to secure to its people the prevention of pollution, impairment or destruction of its natural resources, and rights of navigation, fishing, hunting, and use of its lands and waters for other public purposes.

(n) "Riparian owner" means one who owns upland bordering the bottomland or water area.

(o) "Riparian rights" means all those rights accruing to ownership of riparian property, including the following, subject to the public trust:

(p) "Submerged patented lands" means any bottomlands lying within a specific government grant area, including a private claim patent, federal patent, or state swampland patent.

(q) "Unpatented lands" means all bottomlands except submerged patented lands.