As used in this part:

    (a) "Classification system" means a mechanism to identify the current use of land and any structures on the land.

    (b) "Data management system" means a mechanism which relies on a computer to manipulate, store, and retrieve information collected and updated during a resource inventory.

    (c) "Inventory" means the land resource and current use inventory.

    (d) "Regional planning commission" means a regional planning commission designated by the governor pursuant to executive directive to carry out planning in a multicounty region of the state.

    (e) "Technical assistance" means the aid that the department shall provide to municipalities, counties, and other interested groups and individuals, on the use of the land resource and current use inventory and related information for planning and resource management decisions.

    (1) The department shall make or have made a project design study. The study shall determine the appropriate operational criteria, computer software and hardware, staffing, available information resources, data updating methodology, most economical inventory resources, location of data management operations, linkages with other data management systems in the state, data geographic base configuration, data delivery system, and other information necessary to complete the inventory and development of a data management system.

    (2) The department shall make or have made a land resource and current use inventory, as provided in sections 60904 and 60905, of all land, public or private, in this state. The land resource and current use inventory shall, if appropriate, rely on any other information and surveys.

    (3) The department shall create a technical assistance program for the purpose of providing services to municipalities and counties as provided in section 60903.

    (4) The department shall prepare recommendations regarding means to address problems or issues indicated by the inventory.

    (1) The department shall create a technical assistance program designed to help municipalities and counties effectively use the inventory. The technical assistance program shall, when feasible, utilize the technical assistance programs of regional planning commissions. The technical assistance shall include all of the following:

    (a) The publication and distribution of the inventory as applicable to each municipality and county in the state.

    (b) The preparation and distribution of land resource management manuals to assist municipalities and counties, planning and resource management entities, and other federal, state, and local agencies in updating their planning and resource management programs to incorporate the inventory. Land resource management manuals may also be prepared to assist municipalities and counties in solving problems that confront their planning resource management programs.

    (c) The conducting of workshops, in conjunction with local government associations, regarding the inventory.

    (d) The provision of a team of experts on the inventory to assist in problem solving by municipalities and counties.

    (e) The provision of an inventory information center and library function that municipalities and counties may utilize in their own programs.

    (1) The land resource portion of the inventory shall be completed in a format that may be readily integrated into the data management system, and shall provide a base of information to analyze the existing and future productivity of the state's natural resources and provide information to assist in the analysis of the timing, location, and intensity of future development in the state. The format should also include information that will be readily usable and available to assist local governmental units in their land use planning. The inventory may include any of the following:

    (a) Geological features, including groundwater features such as depth to groundwater, groundwater recharge zones, and potable aquifers.

    (b) Land area with characteristics that pose problems to development, such as an area subject to reasonably predictable hazardous natural phenomenon, which may include flooding, high-risk erosion, or subsidence.

    (c) Land area with characteristics that make it suited for agricultural use.

    (d) Land area with characteristics that make it suited for silvicultural use.

    (e) Metallic and nonmetallic mineral deposits.

    (f) Hydrological features, including lakes, rivers and creeks, impoundments, drainage basins, and wetlands.

    (g) Land area of wildlife habitat, including each significant breeding area or area used by migratory wildlife.

    (h) Topographic contours.

    (2) If the department designates an area as wetland, the state may negotiate and contract for an option to purchase or exchange the wetland in order to protect the wetland. The option to purchase or exchange the wetland shall be valid for 5 years. After an option to purchase is negotiated, a person may apply for and receive consideration for an exemption from property taxes levied pursuant to the general property tax act, Act No. 206 of the Public Acts of 1893, being sections 211.1 to 211.157 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, for the duration of the option to purchase.

     The current use portion of the inventory shall be completed using a consistent classification system that can be readily integrated into the data management system, and shall provide the base to analyze the existing use and cover in the state. The current use inventory may include any of the following:

    (a) Substantially undeveloped land devoted to the production of plants and animals useful to humanity, including forages and sod crops; grain and feed crops; dairy and dairy products; livestock, including the breeding and grazing of those animals; fruits of all kinds; vegetables; and other similar uses and activities.

    (b) Land used in the production of fiber and other woodland products or that supports trees that are protective of water resources, soils, recreation, or wildlife habitat.

    (c) Land that is being mined, drilled, or excavated for metallic and nonmetallic mineral, rock, stone, gravel, clay, soil, or other earth, petroleum, or natural gas resources.

    (d) A site, structure, district, or archaeological landmark that is officially included in the national register of historic places or designated as a historic site pursuant to state or federal law.

    (e) Urban and developed land, including residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, communication, utilities, and open space uses and including recreational land.

    (f) Land owned on behalf of the public, including land managed by federal, state, or local government or school districts.

    (g) Land enrolled in part 361.

    (h) Land enrolled in part 511.

    (i) Land designated for tax abatements, restricted use, or specific use under a public act of this state.

    (1) The current use portion of the inventory may be conducted by municipalities, counties, or regional planning commissions as provided in subsection (4). A municipality, county, or regional planning commission conducting a portion of the current use inventory shall conduct that portion on a scale, level of detail, format, and classification system prepared by the department.

    (2) By December 27, 1980, the department shall prepare criteria for municipality, county, and regional planning commission participation in the current use inventory process. The criteria shall specify the scale, level of detail, format, and classification system to be used in the current use portion of the inventory and shall contain forms and information on the financial reimbursement provisions provided in section 60907.

    (3) The criteria prepared under subsection (2) shall be circulated by the department to local government associations and to a municipality, county, or regional planning commission, upon request. By March 27, 1982, a municipality with an established planning commission may submit to the department and to the county board of commissioners of the county in which the municipality is primarily located a notice of intent to perform or cause to be performed the work necessary to complete the current use portion of the inventory. By June 27, 1982, a county with an established planning commission may submit to the department a notice of intent to perform or cause to be performed the work necessary to complete the current use portion of the inventory for each area for which a municipality is not performing the work necessary to complete the current use portion of the inventory. By September 27, 1982, a regional planning commission may submit a notice of intent to the department to perform the work necessary to complete the current use inventory for each area not covered by a municipality or county notice of intent. For each area not covered by a notice of intent under this subsection, the department shall make or cause to be made the current use portion of the inventory.

    (4) A municipality, county, or regional planning commission engaged in the preparation of the current use portion of the inventory may make use of assistance, data, and information made available to it by public or private organizations.

     The state shall reimburse each municipality, county, or regional planning commission engaged in the preparation of the current use portion of the inventory for 75% of the expenditures certified by the department. Certification shall be based upon conformance to the format, scale, and classification system provisions of the contract between the municipality, county, or regional planning commission and the department. If the amount appropriated during any fiscal year is not sufficient to provide the 75% reimbursement, the director of the department of management and budget shall prorate an amount among the eligible municipalities, counties, and regional planning commissions.

    (1) The land resource portion of the inventory shall be reviewed and updated when necessary, but not less than once every 10 years.

    (2) The current use portion of the inventory shall be reviewed and updated when necessary, but not less than once each 5 years.

     The department may charge fees for generating products or rendering services based on the information in the inventory. The fees shall not exceed the costs to the department of generating the products or rendering the services. The amount of money expended by the department for generating products or rendering services in a fiscal year shall not exceed the amount appropriated for that fiscal year or the amount of the fees actually received during that fiscal year, whichever is less.

    (1) This part shall not be construed to permit the state, the department, or a person to exercise control over private property or to curtail development of private property.

    (2) This part shall not:

    (a) Constitute a state land use plan.

    (b) Be used by any state agency to control the existing and future productivity of the state's natural resources or the timing, location, or intensity of future development in the state.