Maps of Critical Dune Areas

Maps of Critical Dune Areas

The maps of critical dune areas were approved by the Michigan legislature in 1989. A total of 265 miles of shoreline and about 74,000 acres of public and private lands are regulated on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.

The legislature found these dunes and adjacent lands are a unique, irreplaceable, and fragile resource that provides significant recreational, economic, scientific, geological, scenic, botanical, educational, agricultural, and ecological benefits to the people of Michigan.

If, after using one of the sites to determine if your property is in a critical dune area, there are questions about whether the property is in a critical dune area please contact local EGLE staff. For questions about permitting visit Michigan.gov/CriticalDunes.

Contact

Information on specific sites:

District Permit Staff

Sources

Atlas

The Atlas of Critical Dunes is organized by county and township and identifies the critical dune areas. Select the county/township map and locate your property on the map. Properties in the hatched or shaded areas of the map are in a critical dune area.

Open Critical Dune Atlas
MiEnviro

MiEnviro Site Map Explorer is used to view regulatory maps, and documents of past and pending applications and permits in Michigan. Zoom into your area on the map or type in the property address and click Show map. On screen right click on the Layers button. Under Map Layers choose Coastal and then choose Critical Dune Area. Click Done. The critical dune areas are shown in red. If your property is in the red area, it is in a critical dune area. Refer to the guidance for using MiEnviro Site Map Explorer for more help.

Open MiEnviro Portal
Wetlands Map Viewer

Wetlands Map Viewer assists users in identifying regulated features including critical dune areas. Choose Text Search or Map Search to locate the property. Click on Coastal Data then choose Critical Dune Areas. The critical dune areas are shown in red. If your property is in the red area, it is in a critical dune area.
Open Wetlands Map Viewer
GIS

Geographic Information System users can load the shapefile of the critical dune area boundary into their projects from the Michigan Open Data Portal.
Open Data Portal