1042 - MICHIGAN RECREATIONAL LAND TRUST FUND
Issued November 3, 1978

MICHIGAN RECREATIONAL LAND TRUST FUND

Act 204, Public Acts of 1976, created a State Recreational Land Trust Fund to be funded by the sale of oil, gas, and mineral leases on certain State land, and from royalties accruing from the oil, gas, and mineral leases sold on certain State lands.  Money from the fund is to be used to acquire lands for recreation purposes.  The Act also created a Board of Trustees to determine which lands and rights in lands should be acquired with fund money.  The Board submits a list of lands to the Legislature each year.  This list is compiled in order of priority and is accompanied by a statement of the guidelines used in listing and assigning the priority of these proposed acquisitions.

The Board consists of five members, including the Director of the Department of Natural Resources, the Chairman of the Natural Resources Commission, and three citizen members appointed by the Governor.  One of these citizen members must be from a group representative of sportsmen's interests.

The Act states that the Board shall be a division of the Department of Natural Resources, and designates the Department to provide staff services for the Board.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Field Solicitor ruled that language in Act 204 removed control of revenues generated from Game and Fish lands away from the State Game and Fish Agency (the Department of Natural Resources), gave control of those revenues to the Board, and as such put the State in conflict (diversion) with the Federal Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson acts.  The Department was determined ineligible to receive additional funds from these programs.  These programs amount to approximately $3 million annually.

Passage of Act 364, Public Acts of 1978, removed the State from diversion by creating the Game and Fish Subfund within the Trust Fund and designating the Department of Natural Resources to determine priority of expenditures of monies in the Subfund.  Royalty revenues accruing from wells producible after October 1, 1978, from Game and Fish lands in the Pigeon River Country State Forest will contribute to this Subfund.  Revenues from Game and Fish lands outside the Pigeon River Country no longer contribute to the Trust Fund.

In compliance with the Kammer Recreational Land Trust Fund Act, as amended, the Department of Natural Resources shall determine which lands and rights in lands within this State should be acquired and shall submit to the Legislature in January of each year a list of those lands and rights in lands it has determined should be acquired with money deposited in the Game and Fish Protection Subfund.

The Commission recognizes and fully supports the goals established by the Board and the system of criteria and point factors utilized in evaluating Land Acquisition Proposals.  Therefore, it is the desire of this Commission that each year the Department shall submit its proposed game and fish projects for expenditures of monies from the Subfund to the Board to be evaluated and scored within the context of their annual review of all project submissions.

The Board will, upon conclusion of their review, transmit their recommendations of Subfund projects to the Department for submission to the Legislature.  This list, containing only lands that benefit the game and fish programs, shall be submitted in the same manner as the Board's list of recommended lands for acquisition with other Trust Fund dollars.

Supported by Commission Action November 3, 1978.