Land Use Lesson 4 : Reflecting on How the Land Is Used

There is a limited amount of land on Earth. Some land is suitable for many different types of land uses. Other land is suitable for only certain uses. Different groups of people view the land in different ways, which has caused conflicts between cultures at times in our history. In North America, different groups of people have viewed the same land in very different ways. For example, the interior of North America is a vast grassland, often called the prairie. Michigan is on the eastern edge of the prairies, where the natural grasslands give way to trees. Over time, the prairies have been occupied by different groups of people. It is the very same land, but its use has changed greatly.

First, the Native Americans relied on the grasslands for hunting and growing crops. The prairie with its grass and animals met their needs. Next came people who wanted to raise cattle. The grasslands were ideal for cattle, and huge herds grazed on the grasslands from Texas to Illinois and Michigan. The herds of cattle gradually replaced the original herds of buffalo, deer, and elk that had been a food supply for the Native Americans. By the time of the U.S. Civil War, a new group of people had arrived in the grasslands. Many of them came from Europe or the eastern United States. They were farmers by tradition, and the grasslands were plowed and the soil planted with crops such as wheat, corn, potatoes, and barley. The land use had changed again.

The railroads and rivers that connected growing cities and towns introduced the next change. Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Bismarck developed as urban land uses on the prairies. Industries grew in the urban centers. Coal, iron ore, petroleum, and other minerals, as well as agricultural products such as wheat, corn, flax, and potatoes, provided the raw materials for the industries. People from distant places migrated to the growing urban centers to find work, and the centers expanded even more with the new arrivals. The next major land use change occurred near the urban centers. Vast expanses of land surrounding the cities were no longer used for agriculture. Suburban and rural lands were used for houses, shopping centers, business centers, and recreational areas such as golf courses and green belts (a strip of open space marking the boundary of a community and often used to break the urban sprawl). That process of land use change continues to the present.

The same land the Native Americans viewed through their cultural lenses was viewed very differently by individuals and groups of people at a later time. Land use and land cover are constantly going through those changes based on who is using the land and their plans for it. Forests are a good example. Trees provide lumber for buildings, paper for newsprint, camping places, and help conserve water. Each is a suitable land use serving a different purpose.

Local communities undergo land use changes in a similar way. Land that was once used for a particular purpose may no longer be used in the same way. In urban communities, the relocation of an industry may leave vacant parcels of land. In rural communities, the land once used to store harvested crops near the railway may now be used for a retail or farm supply store. In some parts of Michigan, land covered by forests is now used for golf courses. In this lesson, the views that several people have of land use/land cover will be examined.