draining property

[outdooralex]

I am going to throw this out to you guys and see what you think. It may even be a question for Boehr. There is a hunk of state land up by my cabin that is pretty good hunting. It is surrounded by private property. It has one seasonal two track that leads off a maintained road through the state ground but also runs down one particular piece of private lands border. This is the only way to get to the state land. Now the problem is, the private land that borders the two track, has a bunch of pvc pipes draining water off his property dumping right onto the road making the road impossible to get down even with 4wd. Is this legal to do? Seeing how its draining onto a nonmaintained road, there maybe nothing that can be done. There is no doubt in my mind if there was nothing draining on it,it would be dry as a bone. Seems a little sneaky to me by the property owner.

[mich buckmaster]

Your right I would stick this in the Law forum for Boehr. You may be getting your road after all. :D

[StumpJumper]

What water is he draining? If it's coming from a swamp then I think it would be considered destruction of a wet land which is very frowned on these days!

[boehr]

Lots of unknown variables here that could make it illegal or could make it legal. How is it being drain? Natural flow through the pipes or being pumped? Why is the flow going in that direction? Is there a beaver dam that has created the flooding? Without the pipes would the water still flow in the same direction causing destruction to the road? I would advised to contact Land & Water Management of the DEQ as they are the ones that deal with wetlands and issue permits for work that a permit is required. I would also contact the local DNR District Office to see about creating a hazard for the road and if they are aware of it to begin with.

[outdooralex]

I am not really sure about all the details of the draining from his property because I really didn't want to snoop on his private property. It just seemed kind of funny to me to see this when I was checking out some hunting spots this weekend and found this. Knowing his past history with him and his attitude towards the people hunting the public land, I kind of figured there was more to this draining than just getting rid of water (maybe some hunters too??!!). I do know one thing before he had bought that property it was bone dry, matter of fact, the DNR used to go back on the state land and plant rye fields every year. So I am not for sure if he is actually pumping it, and I am not sure about a beaver dam although I doubt that, but I am going to try and do a little more investigating before I press the issue.