Sky, Sand & Surf

FIELD GUIDE

Exploring Michigan: Tips, trends, and tidbits

SONGBIRD THRIVES: Michigan’s popular Kirtland’s warbler population continues to flourish since its removal in 2019 from the federal list of endangered species, according to surveys conducted last summer by government agencies. Its global population was estimated at 2,245 pairs, which is more than double the 1,000-pair recovery goal for the species — which has been exceeded each of the past 20 years. The small birds build nests on the ground in young, dense stands of jack pine in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Their nesting habitat is created by harvesting mature jack pines and planting seedlings in logged areas. kwconservation.org

TRAIL HONORS: Trenton was recently recognized as a Pure Michigan Trail Town by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Travel Michigan. For years, the city has been enhancing its four-season trail system, hiking and biking networks, access to the Detroit River American Heritage River Trail, and its connection to the Downriver Linked Greenways, part of the statewide Iron Belle Trail. trentonmi.org

A FRESH LOOK: The updated HuronClinton Metroparks website offers a better user experience complete with new maps, photos, calendars, park activities, accessibility plug-ins, and more content. The 13-park system, which spans southeast Michigan, includes more than 25,000 acres of woods, water, and recreational facilities mainly along the Huron and Clinton rivers. metroparks.com

– Compiled by Ron Garbinski

Have news that pertains to Michigan travel and exploration? Send a note to MSwoyer@Hour-Media.com.

Saving a Lifeboat

Hessel’s E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works restores a Coast Guard beauty

By Chuck Warren

I n the movie based on real events, The Finest Hours, 32 men rescued from the stricken tanker S.S. Pendleton sit crowded on a small boat while the sea continues to rage around them. Although the rescue boat’s compass was washed overboard on the harrowing trip out to sea, Coast Guard Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber states calmly, “She’s a good boat. She’ll get us home.”

The boat, a U.S. Coast Guard Type T motor lifeboat, played an integral part in the success of what is considered the most daring and heroic small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history — and countless others — during its nearly 50 years in service.

In the early 1930s, U.S. Coast Guard lifesaving stations in the Great Lakes were equipped with the first five of these newly designed Type T motor lifeboats. Measuring 36 feet in length with a 10.5-foot beam, Type T lifeboats were powered by a six-cylinder gas engine capable of pushing the boats up to 9 mph over a 280-mile range.

The Type T, which evolved into the Type TR and TRS, replaced the aging and failing oar-powered vessels that had been used for decades.

Weighing more than 19,000 pounds, Type T model lifeboats waited on cradles in a station’s lifeboat house until rescue operations were necessary. At that time, the boats were launched by rolling the cradle and boat down rails into the water.

In 2016, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum acquired a Type TR lifeboat for display in the Whitefish Point facility, originally a Coast Guard station on Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie.

Identified by its serial number, CG36381, this motor lifeboat is only 10 numbers away from one of the original vessels stationed at Whitefish Point. It was discovered on the New Jersey shore, where it sat outside for nearly a decade, slowly deteriorating until it was scheduled to be burned to easily recover any metal hardware.

Now housed at E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works in Hessel, the lifeboat’s own rescue is underway. Home of the annual Classic and Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of the Arts, Mertaugh has been working with wooden boats since 1925, so the staff was excited to undertake the extensive restoration work needed on CG36381.

“It’s pretty cool; it’s definitely different,” says Shipwreck Museum Executive Director Bruce Lynn. “It’s almost like an ugly duck sitting between all of those streamlined classics.”

The boat was a hardy, reliable workhorse. Designed to be self-righting and self-bailing, it could roll itself right-sideup, and any water that washed onto the deck in rough seas would drain completely away in about 20 seconds.

The first phase of the restoration project was to clean out all the junk that had accumulated over the many years the vessel sat outside. Leaves, branches, trash, and old parts had to be cleared away before any restoration work could begin.

Although the hull needed little more than sanding and painting, the Mertaugh crew replaced the decking and rooftops on each of the housing structures before turning their attention to other jobs, such as rebuilding the rub rails that allow the vessel to bump against things without damage.

The restoration crew decided to sandblast the Type TR’s hardware, which revealed an unexpected treasure: Beneath years of paint were bronze components

Coast Guardsmen stand watch over the old lifeboat prior to its restoration.

used in the boat’s original construction.

Many other pieces had been stripped from the boat over the years, but the Mertaugh crew was able to borrow the missing hardware from other boats to have patterns made and parts recreated by an East Coast foundry.

Most, if not all, of the Mertaugh employees have had some involvement in the restoration of the Type TR motor lifeboat, making the project that much more special. “Not a lot of people in the world can go to a museum and say, ‘I put the roof on that,’ ” says Geoff Hamilton, Mertaugh’s general manager.

Work on the Type TR has progressed fairly well over the past few years, but the team had hoped the boat would be on display sooner. “COVID-19 really backed us up,” Lynn says. “(If COVID hadn’t happened), we would have had it on display already in our lifeboat house.”

The restoration has also taken time for financial reasons. “It’s all being done through donations, so we break it up into chunks,” Hamilton explains.

Type TR motor lifeboat CG36381 will be displayed in the Shipwreck Museum’s 1923 Lifeboat House, which is also undergoing restoration work, along with the reconstructed cradle and rails. Both the Lifeboat House and motor lifeboat CG36381 are expected to be ready for visitors this spring.

PLAN IT! Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum shipwreckmuseum.com

Navigating Choppy Waters

Here’s a primer on defending and securing waterfront real estate

By Daniel P. Dalton

A s the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak sent a wave of Michiganders to their second homes for remote work with picturesque waterfront views, many digital nomads discovered the expected tranquility had been displaced with discord over trespassing and access to waterways.

While this may not have been unique, the surge of people occupying vacation homes at the same time was propelling riparian rights into the public eye.

Riparian rights govern property owners’ access to and reasonable use of Michigan water bodies. However, the laws surrounding this particular land use are complex enough to cause confusion for those who are at odds with their neighbors or municipalities over real or perceived infringement.

Michigan laws provide waterfront property owners with a comprehensive legal platform to defend and secure their waterfront real estate while sanctioning allowances for non-waterfront owners to legally access the water.

Riparian property includes or touches a body of water; the converse is true of nonriparian land and, generally, non-riparian owners can’t have a private pier. Yet the law takes into account certain distinctions such as reasonable use of water, owning the land under water, navigability tests, easements, historical use, and zoning that ultimately determines who is authorized and who is restricted from its use.

Non-riparian land owners, for example, can gain access to water by a public road end, as long as the water body is considered navigable. On the other hand, the law recognizes the need to protect the riparian rights of property owners who live next to those areas. These individuals may file a civil action against a violator for interfering with the reasonable use of waters. Activities such as lounging, picnicking, sunbathing, and building boat hoists or docks are often prohibited.

Easements are another way nonriparian owners can access the water, and are the best option for ensuring that the benefit of riparian rights is transferred upon new ownership of the waterfront property.

There are three types of easements: An Express Grant, which uses specific language like a contract; a Reservation, which involves one owner with two properties reserving the right to continue water access from the backlot parcel when the waterfront property is sold; and a Prescription, which is claiming easement over land used in a certain way for a fixed time. In Michigan, the minimum fixed time is 15 continuous years.

Due Diligence: Although waterfront property ownership has its challenges, knowing the basics will help prevent disputes, avoid buyer’s remorse, and achieve the waterfront experience so many people greatly desire.

Whether you’re an owner or someone in the market to buy waterfront property, here are some key riparian elements: • Be aware that Michigan has two classes of natural waters: Great Lakes and inland waters. Ownership rights of inland waters (rivers, lakes, or ponds) are subject to the same rules of law. The Great Lakes’ surface water itself is not classified as property of the state, but as a public good. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, the State of Michigan acts as a trustee of public

Waterfront property ownership has its challenges. Make sure you understand your riparian rights.

rights for fishing, hunting, and boating for commerce or pleasure. • Purchase a riparian survey. Don’t assume riparian bottomland borders extend straight out from property lines; borders extend from property lines to the center of the water body, so angles will be unusual. • An owner of an inland lake house in Michigan holds title to the submerged land. Michigan courts have held that the right to use the surface water, once legal non-riparian access is established, does not carry with it the right to anchor a float — or any other thing, for that matter — in the submerged lands of another. • Review the plat. If you’re buying a lot in a platted subdivision, the plat usually describes the rights to any common areas, including road ends or “community” lots, and may also describe any access easements that aren’t apparent from the deed. • Make sure there are no unrecorded easements. Anything not recorded in the register of deeds will not come back in a title search. Ensure that nobody else has any rights to use your property for waterfront access. • Check the location of neighboring docks. Even if you can show a neighbor’s dock is on your riparian bottomlands, the neighbor might still have the right to keep it there through a prescriptive easement. • Know when a dock permit is required. Generally, docks or boat hoists that are seasonally removed don’t need a permit, as long as the structures are for private, noncommercial, and recreational use, and don’t unreasonably interfere with the use of the water by others or with water flow. Public or commercial structures require a permit. • Read your title insurance policy carefully. If your property comes with a dock permitted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), be sure to check the dock configuration against the permit.

One Final Piece of Advice: Visit the property you’re considering purchasing during peak times. A property that looks beautifully serene on a Tuesday morning may have an entirely different vibe on weekends and holidays. That’s important knowledge to have when managing your neighborly expectations.

Daniel P. Dalton is a land use and zoning attorney with Detroit-based Dalton & Tomich. Dalton works with clients on securing their riparian rights, and has co-authored a guide on easements and lake access. For more information, visit daltontomich.com/ easements-lake-access-and-riparianrights/.