# Using a private lane to access public lands



## m_grieb (Aug 10, 2014)

Hi All,

I recently ran into an issue with accessing a piece of land to camp/fish on. Heres a description:

There is a road that runs close to a river that I enjoy fishing on. This road begins and ends at a county road. One end of the road has a road sign that says the name of the road followed by the "private lane". The other end of the road is not marked, and goes into state land. The state land end of the road is now washed out due to the high runoff this year. This road is about 1.5 miles long and, although posted as a private lane, only goes through about 200 yards of private land in two small pieces with the rest of what the road goes through being public. My question is if the "private lane" goes through two small pieces of private property and continues through even bigger sections of public land, can the public use it to access the public land? Is it wrongly declared as a private lane? 



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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

You did not say if it was gated but assuming it is not the answer is quite simple. If there is not a public easement across the private property you technically should have permission to use that section. If it is a county road it can be used freely. But, the only way to know for sure is to either call the road commission or get on the road commission website and look it up. Many counties have maps of country roads posted on their sites, Chippewa is one of them. You will need to know the legal description of the property. The Town, Range should be all that is necessary to get you on the right map page and the section number will show you precisely .

If it isn't county then there is a slim chance (very slim) there may be a DNR easement. If the land is USFS and not SoM (many folks confuse the two) checking with the appropriate agency would be necessary. Good luck getting anybody in the respective offices these days. FM


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## toto (Feb 16, 2000)

What Forest said is exactly correct. I will add one thing, sometimes property owners have a tendency to make things private, that really aren't, of course that's what Forest just said, but another way. Let us know how that works out for you, I'd be interested.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Sounds like some research is in order. Good luck. I have seen multiple times when an owner along the side of the road puts signs up to infer the road is private when it is not. That may not be the case here.

If research shows you can use it, put the local Sheriff’s number in your phone.


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## Wyandotte (Feb 15, 2016)

It seems you are saying both ends of the road are public, and the middle of it has been signed as private. Is it safe to assume that for years and years, folks have been using the road, and the signs are recent? If this is the case, but without knowing the specifics, the public has the right to traverse the two private sections, due to adverse possession.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

I suspect if "public money" has ever been used on the road it is public. Went thru a lake access squabble 35 yrs ago and found out a lot about roads/roadends.


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