Some recent questions from a reader have prompted a bit of clarification relative to Michigan’s trespass laws. Not much can get landowners’ blood to boil more than having uninvited strangers violate their boundaries after having invested sizeable sums of money to not only purchase or lease land, but to improve it with sweat equity and to nurture all forms of flora and fauna. What follows is not intended to be all-inclusive legal advice; for that, you may want to contact an attorney.
Michigan law defines trespassing when a person enters the property of another’s, when either forbidden to do so or remaining on the property after the landowner, occupant or the agent of the owner or occupant has told the person to leave. People are no longer required to possess written permission to be on another’s land, but it may prove useful to prevent unnecessary confrontations.
Under the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act 451 of 1994, 322 Sec. 73102, the following apply.
(1) Except as provided in subsection (4), a person shall not enter or remain upon the property of another person, other than farm property or a wooded area connected to farm property, to engage in any recreational activity or trapping on that property without the consent of the owner or his or her lessee or agent, if either of the following circumstances exists:
(a) The property is fenced or enclosed and is maintained in such a manner as to exclude intruders.
(b) The property is posted in a conspicuous manner against entry. The minimum letter height on the posting signs shall be 1 inch. Each posting sign shall be not less than 50 square inches, and the signs shall be spaced to enable a person to observe not less than 1 sign at any point of entry upon the property.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (4), a person shall not enter or remain upon farm property or a wooded area connected to farm property for any recreational activity or trapping without the consent of the owner or his or her lessee or agent, whether or not the farm property or wooded area connected to farm property is fenced, enclosed, or posted.
The law does not require any specific language for posted signs that prohibit entry, but displaying a conspicuous warning is the basis of a criminal trespassing charge, because a person who unwittingly wanders onto the land of another is not doing anything wrong.
The factual basis for a criminal trespassing charge under this specific provision does not require a request to leave the premises nor does it not apply to a person who is in the process of attempting, by the most direct route, to contact the owner or his or her lessee or agent to request consent.
A person other than a person possessing a firearm may, unless previously prohibited in writing or orally by the property owner, enter on foot upon the property of another person for the sole purpose of retrieving a hunting dog. The person shall not remain on the property beyond the reasonable time necessary to retrieve the dog.
Michigan DNR conservation officers are peace officers, and except as otherwise provided by law, are vested with all the powers, privileges, prerogatives, and immunities conferred upon peace officers by the general laws of this state and can be telephoned anytime at 800-292-7800 for such matters related to enforcement on any of the above issues.
