Ok, so recently the National Wildlife refuge purchased a small island a lot of us locals used during the summer as a place to picnic, throw horse shoes, etc. Anyway they have now designated it as a wildlife refuge and have posted signs on the island that state, unauthorized access is prohibited. So given this how far into the water can they actually enforce this? I was anchored off a few yards from the island today in about waist deep water and was told by a federal agent that I was trespassing and that he can enforce this to the middle part of the shipping channel. Naturally I got a bit of an attitude with him, as to say you can enforce a no trespass hundreds of yards away all the way into a shipping channel, just sounds ridiculous..... So my question for all of you legal types, what is the actual distance they can enforce a no trespass on a federally owned island in the Detroit River? Can they enforce all the way out to the shipping channel or to the water line? Also where can I find this in writing? While I told the officer I thought he was full of $hit, I don't know the full extent of this law so to argue it with him wouldn't be smart either..... Any info you guys can lend would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

They are handing out tickets on Sugar Island like crazy, good question!

the enforcible area ends where the revenue ends.

Correct, but they are saying they can enforce to the middle of the shipping channel. Which would be like stating, a guy standing in the middle of my road is trespassing on my yard..... Of course he isn't he is in a public road. He isn't trespassing until he steps onto my front lawn. So where is the front lawn (in this case) of an island? Is it the water line? Or should there be a public deed that states the exact property lines? I have been reading (on the Internet) that it is the "high-water line" but I have not found anything that looks like an actual law.....

Only way to find that out is to read the law or regulation creating that refuge and see where the boundaries are. It absolutely could go to the middle of the channel. Sorry for the bad news.

In most normal waterfront property cases the landowner only owns the land that is there at high tide. But if this is a Fed refuge they can also designate water as part of the refuge so you really need to get a map to see what they took from you/us. So few people realize how bad it can be when the .gov tries to save the birdies and the tadpoles and crap.

I beleave in NJ here you are allowed to run your boat up as close to the low tide line.

like X-Rated 30 said, you need to find out where the established boundary lines are for the refuge. Depending on how its set up, they may have the riverbed area near the island included as part of the refuge. Kinda like how some coral reefs are designated as national parks. Here in Pittsburgh my family's marina has water rights given by the Corps of Engineers that allow us to put docks up to 96 feet from shore, taking us up to the navigation channel. So it is possible that they can enforce the trespassing in the water.

You know in the eyes of this twisted out of control Government , a Bug or Lizard is more important than People are .

It to bad really, like most other good things, dis-respectful boaters/visitors ruined this one. If it wasn't for the Friends of the Detroit River, that place would be one big trash pile.

I was out today and this one one of the first memorial days I can remember that there wasn't tons of people enjoying the island...sad.