Wisconsin's "Public Trust Doctrine" and "Private" Beaches (such as in Shorewood) (Milwaukee: landlords)

[Empidonax]

Wisconsin is well known for its Public Trust Doctrine, which stipulates that Lake Michigan, including shoreline from the water's edge to the high water mark, belongs to the public. In the city of Milwaukee, the Public Trust Doctrine has been at the heart of discussions related to development of lakefront property for commercial and private uses.

One thing I don't quite understand, though, is that in some stuff I've read, such as Shorewood's own code of laws, there are references to "privately owned beach property bordering on Lake Michigan," including prohibitions which forbid people "except the riparian owners or their permittees, to bathe, picnic on, or frequent" these "private" properties. In Shorewood's case, there have been discussions about establishing fences to keep people from straying from Atwater Park onto adjacent "private" beach properties.

So, I'm wondering if someone can clear things up for me. How can Shorewood, and presumably other communities, have laws upholding private ownership and exclusive use of property that falls under the Public Trust Doctrine?

Are private landlords granted exclusive use of such properties, as a special exemption to the Doctrine? Or is there an implied distinction between "beach" and "shoreline," with the private property on one side of the high water mark, and public property on the other? If so, why would it be illegal for a person to "frequent" a stretch of shoreline that would fall under the Public Trust Doctrine?

[Merkin]

yes all water is public property, it's the access that can be private. Also Lake Michigan has been low for a while so the "high water mark" could be on the beach itself which means the beach is private access.

[43north87west]

Technically it's not illegal for a person to frequent a stretch of shoreline that is not part of a private beach. The access to the water is the issue. If a person arrived by boat, they could slosh up and down the shoreline all that they wanted to, providing that they weren't breaking some other law in the process.