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the exception of recreational watercraft used by people staying
on the shoreline on or near the property, recreational watercraft
generally do not use those waters because a public harbor is not
relatively close to the property. The recreational watercraft
that do use those waters do so mainly in July and August and,
with the exception of recreational watercraft used by people
staying on the shoreline on or near the property, seldom come
close to the shoreline of the property. In the winter, only
freighters use the waters near the property, and they do so at a
distance that is approximately 1 mile into the water.
Few people walk the Lake Michigan shoreline in Emmet County
at times other than in the summer. In the summer (primarily July
and August), many people walk that shoreline, and many people
believe that the public is allowed to walk along any part of a
Great Lake shoreline up to the ordinary high water mark.7 Some
people do not walk on private beaches on Lake Michigan because
they view those beaches as the private property of another. The
people who walk the shoreline on or near the property are
7 In Glass v. Goeckel, 683 N.W.2d 719 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004),
the court ruled contrary to this belief that people who own land
on Lake Huron have the exclusive right to use and enjoy that land
up to the water’s edge. The trial court had ruled that the
public had a right to walk on the portion of that land that was
between the ordinary highwater mark and the water’s edge. In
reversing the trial court, the court of appeals held that the
general public may pass that land only by walking in the water.
The Supreme Court of Michigan agreed to hear an appeal of that
case and is currently considering this issue.
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