(1) Subject to subsection (7), the department of environmental quality shall establish Great Lakes bottomlands preserves by rule. A Great Lakes bottomlands preserve shall be established by emergency rule if it is determined by the department that this action is necessary to immediately protect an object or area of historical or recreational value.
  (2) A Great Lakes bottomlands preserve may be established whenever a bottomlands area includes a single watercraft of significant historical value, includes 2 or more abandoned watercraft, or contains other features of archaeological, historical, recreational, geological, or environmental significance. Bottomlands areas containing few or no watercraft or other features directly related to the character of a preserve may be excluded from preserves.

Terms Used In Michigan Laws 324.76111

  • Abandoned property: means an aircraft; a watercraft, including a ship, boat, canoe, skiff, raft, or barge; the rigging, gear, fittings, trappings, and equipment of an aircraft or watercraft; the personal property of the officers, crew, and passengers of an aircraft or watercraft; and the cargo of an aircraft or watercraft, which have been deserted, relinquished, cast away, or left behind and for which attempts at reclamation have been abandoned by owners and insurers. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Bottomlands: means the unpatented lake bottomlands of the Great Lakes. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Committee: means the underwater salvage and preserve committee created in section 76103. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Department: means the director of the department of natural resources or his or her designee to whom the director delegates a power or duty by written instrument. See Michigan Laws 324.301
  • Great Lakes: means lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, St. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Great Lakes bottomlands preserve: means an area located on the bottomlands of the Great Lakes and extending upward to and including the surface of the water, which is delineated and set aside by rule for special protection of abandoned property of historical value, or ecological, educational, geological, or scenic features or formations having recreational, educational, or scientific value. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Historical value: means value relating to, or illustrative of, Michigan history, including the statehood, territorial, colonial, and historic, and prehistoric native American periods. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Recreational value: means value relating to an activity that the public engages in, or may engage in, for recreation or sport, including scuba diving and fishing. See Michigan Laws 324.76101
  • Rule: means a rule promulgated pursuant to the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24. See Michigan Laws 324.301
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
  (3) In establishing a Great Lakes bottomlands preserve, the department of environmental quality shall consider all of the following factors:
  (a) Whether creating the preserve is necessary to protect either abandoned property possessing historical or recreational value, or significant underwater geological or environmental features.
  (b) The extent of local public and private support for creation of the preserve.
  (c) Whether a preserve development plan has been prepared by a state or local agency.
  (d) The extent to which preserve support facilities such as roads, marinas, charter services, hotels, medical hyperbaric facilities, and rescue agencies have been developed in or are planned for the area.
  (4) The department of environmental quality and the department of history, arts, and libraries shall not grant a permit to recover abandoned artifacts within a Great Lakes bottomlands preserve except for historical or scientific purposes or when the recovery will not adversely affect the historical, cultural, or recreational integrity of the preserve area as a whole.
  (5) An individual Great Lakes bottomlands preserve shall not exceed 400 square miles in area. Great Lakes bottomlands preserves shall be limited in total area to not more than 10% of the Great Lakes bottomlands within this state. However, the limitations provided in this subsection do not apply to the Thunder Bay Great Lakes bottomland preserve established in subsection (7).
  (6) Upon the approval of the committee, not more than 1 vessel associated with Great Lakes maritime history may be sunk intentionally within a Great Lakes bottomlands preserve. However, state money shall not be expended to purchase, transport, or sink the vessel.
  (7) The Thunder Bay Great Lakes state bottomland preserve established under R 299.6001 of the Michigan administrative code shall have boundaries identical with those described in 15 C.F.R. § 922.190 for the Thunder Bay national marine sanctuary and underwater preserve. As long as the Thunder Bay national marine sanctuary and underwater preserve remains a designated national marine sanctuary, the right and privilege to explore, survey, excavate, and regulate abandoned property of historical or recreational value found upon or within the lands owned by or under control of the state within those boundaries shall be jointly managed and regulated by the department of environmental quality and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. However, this subsection shall not be construed to convey any ownership right or interest from the state to the federal government of abandoned property of historical or recreational value found upon or within the lands owned by or under control of the state.
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