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Michigan Land Use
In this unit you gather information
about environments in Michigan
You will use some environmental maps,
as well as your own background knowledge
Then you will decide how to use land
in different parts of the state.
You may also explore some energy options
Version 2025.6
Energy
Decisions (NOT ACTIVE)
Making
Decisions
Patterns
and change (NOT ACTIVE)
Land-use
Decisions
What do you want
to learn more about?
Making Decisions
Imagine a house on a hilltop
What is good about this location?
Nice view
quiet
easy to defend
What might not be so good?
Earthquake
ice storm
heavy bag of groceries
People who make decisions based
on only one kind of information
can sometimes get lucky.
After all it IS a great view,
and maybe this place
doesn’t have storms
or earthquakes
And maybe the family
has a teenager who
likes to carry groceries...
rainfall
growing seasons
drought chances
soil fertility
soil thickness
slope steepness
slope length
insects
birds
mammals
weeds
seeds
available machinery
fertilizer
cost of fuel
field size
ownership
rental arrangement
fences
distance to market
trucks or wagons
neighbors plans
personal skill
available capital
competition
local,
regional
foreign
age
health
children
other jobs
debt
hail, frost, wind
harvester’s schedule
transportation
consumer tastes
government policy
health regulations
environmental rules
interest rates
import tarifs
last year’s crop
livestock
storage
personal preferences
religious taboos
local activists
and that isn’t all!
Most of the time however,
people who fail to consider
many kinds of information
make bad decisions.
To make a good decision
about how to use land
a farmer has to think about
a surprisingly large number of things.
In this activity, you will try
to do the job of a land-use planner
for the entire state of Michigan
At first this might sound
like an impossible job
in fact, it can be easier to examine
the general patterns of land use
for an entire state
than to plan the use
of a specific field
Looking at general patterns
of land use in Michigan
can help us understand
how people make a living.
It can also help us
solve some problems
of energy use
and climate change.
Grape vineyardscan grow on hilly landwith not-so-good soilbut they need a longseason with no frost
Asparagus
is a plant that grows
best in small fields
in places that have
mild temperatures
Deciding how to use
land in Michigan
Berry farmers
can use sandy soil
in places that have
mild temperatures
and humid breezes
Grain farmers
prefer fairly flat land,
because they use
large machines
to plant and harvest
Small round symbols
represent different ways
of using land
Roll your pointer
over these samples
to see what they mean
Sugarbeets
can grow well
on the flat clay land
that was lake bottom
during the ice age.
Foresters
plant trees on land
that is too hilly
or cold for other
crops to grow well.
Cherry orchards
grow best on slopes
in places that have
mild temperatures
(like near big lakes)
You will also see
two small maps
near the edge
of the screen.
Slide your pointer
over these maps
to see conditions
on the main map
Finally, the points you get
will also be affected by
distance to customers.
Letters on the map
show the locations
of four important clusters
of population in Michigan:
Grand Rapids, Lansing,
the Saginaw Bay ports,
and metropolitan Detroit.
Ready?
When you click again,
the land-use symbols will appear,
and you can move them
to where you think
they will make
the most points.
Be ready to explain
the reasons for your choices
and results.
If you had trouble deciding where to put
some of your grain farms and tree plantations
that is the result of an important fact:
None of these uses of land
are likely to be profitable
in some cold or hilly places.
As a result, some uses of land
are the result of historical “accidents”
(like fires and company projects)
rather than careful decisions
based on present conditions.
What are some
generalizations
that we can make
about land use
in Michigan?
The great lakes are important influences
on the land-use pattern of Michigan.
They provide the moderate climate that allows
farmers to grow high-value fruits and vegetables.
2. High-value crops tend to “claim” the best land
and push lower value crops to lower quality land.
Fruits >> sugar beets >> grains >>. trees
3. The locations of farm-related factories are influenced
by the locations of the raw materials they need.
Wineries, ethanol plants, and biomass generators
are examples of economic activities that depend
on the location of specific land uses.