Imagine that you needed to devise a systematic approach to identify, evaluate and make decisions about each and every parcel of land owned by the state of Michigan.

That involves nearly 4.6 million acres of the state's land surface, and thousands of separate parcels.

But that goal was achieved recently, when the last reviews were approved by Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries and the final decisions about which parcels to keep in public ownership and which ones to place back into private hands was concluded.

"We have reviewed the final set of counties in this very comprehensive process," Humphries said. "While this has been time-consuming, it also has been rewarding for the department to fully review its land holdings to help determine better uses of our resources to be more effective natural resources managers."

The DNR embarked upon this huge effort in 2003. Today, each parcel and acre has been reviewed; their best uses into the future determined and the final steps in this process will be taken in the coming months.

According to DNR Forest Land Administrator Kerry Wieber, sorting and evaluating each and every parcel and acre to determine if it held recreational value was a monumental task, one of the biggest jobs the DNR has ever undertaken.

"It involved DNR staff from all of the resource managing divisions," Wieber said. "But we now have made it through the biggest part of the challenge to consolidate the state's land holdings to maximize public recreational opportunities and more effectively manage state-owned land. It's really going to benefit the citizens of this state."

Although the DNR has for years purchased lands for public use, at the same time, the agency was accumulating more land through the tax reversion process. Some of the land that came to the DNR via tax reversion was well-suited for public use and outdoor recreation, but much more did not fit with the DNR's conservation mission.

"The majority of the lands managed by the DNR came into state ownership in the early 20th century, when, after being clear cut, held no appreciable value to its owners," Wieber said. "Some of these lands reverted to the state several times, and, while much of it could be salvaged, reforested and utilized by the public, some of it is simply not suitable for public recreation."

Wieber said the costs of managing these scattered holdings outweighed the conservation and recreation values those lands could provide, so the term "land consolidation" became the driving theme. The DNR would dispose of small, individual parcels and try to consolidate its public land holdings in light of today's needs for natural resource conservation and related outdoor recreation.

Revenue generated from the disposal of the less desirable parcels will be used to purchase properties that are more desirable, especially those adjacent to existing state ownership.

"It was a lively and very public process," Wieber said. "Hundreds of people came forward to help us make decisions about which parcels to keep and which to dispose of."

Municipalities, in particular, she said, were very happy with the process because it allowed plots within community boundaries to be made available for private uses, which could be returned to the local tax base.

In completing Phase II of the land consolidation process, the DNR has evaluated more than 79,000 acres of land, comprised of about 10,000 separate parcels, as well as thousands of platted subdivision lots that fall outside of current DNR project boundaries.

The recommendations being forwarded call for 52% of those parcels to be retained by the state, including 71% of the acreage. Another 5% of the parcels and 7% of the acreage should remain public but potentially owned/administered by an alternative conservation entity. Parcels to be disposed of amount to about 42% of those reviewed and about 22% of the acreage.

So, the bottom line shows that of the more than 79,000 acres reviewed, nearly 62,000 acres will remain open to the public.

"We are very pleased with the public's response to our land consolidation effort," Wieber said. "Local units of government, conservation organizations and individual citizens all have played an important role in this process. It is good to have completed the final set of counties. Now we can implement those recommendations and move forward with land exchanges and sales."

The DNR Web site contains information on parcels that are being offered for sale either by direct purchase or by sealed bid auction. Land is available in 23 counties, and a full list of the land being offered by the state is posted at www.michigan.gov/landforsale under "Land Sales" and then listed by county under "Parcels Available for Purchase."

Michigan has more state-owned land than any other state east of the Mississippi. And, now, it will be in a more manageable and publicly usable form than ever before, thanks to this very comprehensive and important land review and consolidation process.