District Court Judge Bruce Plackowski ordered Davis to pay $10,000 in fines, $23,940 to reimburse the state for investigative costs and $2,400 in attorney fees. In addition, Davis was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and a suspended 90-day jail term, and was ordered to restore the affected streams and wetlands to their natural state.

The 80-acre site, adjacent to Lake Superior, is mostly wetland and is regulated under both state and federal law. Davis claimed the road was built for logging purposes and therefore was exempt from regulation. State investigators, though, presented evidence that the roads were actually intended to provide development access to the properties of several landowners.

Staff of the DEQ's land and water management division and office of criminalinvestigations, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Michigan Attorney General's Office, cooperated on the case.