MTGA Trails Toolkit

The Michigan legislature has enacted a “Recreational Use Statute” to encourage owners and managers to allow public access for recreation use on their lands.

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement that is used to transfer certain rights concerning the use of land to a qualified nonprofit organization, governmental body, or other legal entity without transferring title to the land.

Michigan laws which help define how the state handles railroad abandonment and their conversion to trails.

This report done in 2006 and 2007 looks at types of maintenance activities for undeveloped trails, local connector trails and high-use developed trails. It documents types of activities, frequency, and cost of each activity.

There are three Michigan laws that allow for one or more local governments to create an interlocal government entity for owning and operating a trail.

A Powerpoint presentation from the MDOT – U.P. Regional Non-motorized Summits, September 8-11, 2008

A comprehensive list of funding sources for non-motorized facility development.

Michigan currently has a tremendous set of financial, institutional, and stakeholder resources that have helped make us a national leader in rail-trail development. Building on the resources outlined below and adding innovative new tools will enable us to reach the goals identified in this coordinated state wide trails vision.