Land Use Lesson 5 - Analyzing Land Use Changes : State
Enhancements
1. Planning Board Meetings on Local Access Cable.
Local Access Cable is available in some communities. If there are local planning board meetings, you might show students a three- or four-minute segment of a deliberation on a land use question to illustrate the issues that arise locally and the arguments that are made on both sides.
2. Graphing Cherry Production in Michigan.
To provide practice graphing data and examining trends shown on the graphs, have students graph the information from the table below. They can graph all the regions or just the total.
Tart Cherry Production, 2006-2010 (in millions of pounds)
| Area | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Northwest Michigan | 114 | 134 | 96 | 185 | 75 |
| West Central Michigan | 49 | 52 | 50 | 63 | 53 |
| Southwest Michigan | 26 | 9 | 18 | 17 | 15 |
| Eastern Michigan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -5 |
| Total | 190 | 196 | 165 | 266 | 136 |
Discuss the following questions with students:
How would you describe the trend in tart cherry production? [The trend shows varying production, perhaps due to weather.]
How might you explain what happened in 2009? Were all areas of the state affected equally? [Good weather helped the crop. The effects seem to be best in northwest Michigan.]
What do you think might happen in 2011? [The numbers could be expected to rise, given the general trend, but weather-related problems again could cause a decrease.]
You might also have students graph the number of farms from earlier periods shown in the table below. Again, students could graph just the total or the numbers for each region.
Discuss the following questions with students:
How would you describe the trends in number of farms? [Decreasing]
How would describe the trends in number of acres farmed? [Generally decreasing, but with a slight increase in 2003.]
How could you explain the changes in the number of farms and acres devoted to growing cherries? [Land that was used for growing cherries is being used for other land uses. Those include houses, shopping malls, highways, and golf courses.]
Number of Farms and Acres Devoted to Growing Tart Cherries
| Number of Farms | Number of Acres | |||||||
| Area | 1994 | 1997 | 2000 | 2003 | 1994 | 1997 | 2000 | 2003 |
| Northwest Michigan | 382 | 346 | 327 | 305 | 17400 | 17000 | 16700 | 17600 |
| West Central Michigan | 181 | 144 | 123 | 126 | 12000 | 11100 | 10300 | 10700 |
| Southwest Michigan | 249 | 190 | 135 | 127 | 6460 | 5330 | 3940 | 3640 |
| Eastern Michigan | 33 | 25 | 30 | 42 | 140 | 70 | 60 | 60 |
| Total | 845 | 705 | 615 | 600 | 36000 | 33500 | 31000 | 32000 |
3. Comparing Farmland and Forests.
Have students compare the changes in land use for farmland and forests. Begin by having students graph the data in the table below.
State of Michigan Forestlands (Acres)
| Year | Forestlands in Acres |
| 1953 | 19,592,000 |
| 1963 | 19,699,000 |
| 1977 | 18,691,000 |
| 1987 | 18,220,000 |
| 1997 | 19,335,000 |
| 2002 | 19,281,000 |
| 2009 | 19,903,000 |
The reports of forestland are not evenly spaced in years. This is because the inventory was initially taken in 1935. Since then, the inventories have been taken over different periods. Sometimes budget and policy decisions restructured the inventory. At other times, estimates were used. In short, these are the best available data for Michigan’s forestlands, but the data are not consistent.
Forestland between 1987 and 1997 increased due to three things.
1. Forestlands that were classified as marginal or of little economic use were reclassified as productive forestland.
2. Croplands were abandoned and during the 10-year period (1987-1997) had reverted to forest land.
3. Pasture land where trees had reestablished their dominance in the ecosystem were then reclassified as forestland.
Discuss the following questions with students:
How would you describe the general trend in acres of forestland? [The trend is up, then down, down some more, and then up.]
How does this graph compare with our graph of farmland? [The graph of farmland has a downward trend.]
How would you explain the similarities and differences? [Similarities are the result of the land being used for different purposes, such as shopping malls and golf courses. The differences are due to greater pressures to use farmland for other purposes since it is usually nearer urban places than forests.]
Extensions
1. Research on Farmland Conservation/ Protection.
Have students conduct research into what is being done to protect or conserve Michigan’s farmland. They may search the WWW using “Michigan Farmland Conservation” or “Michigan Farmland Protection” as search terms. Several Michigan counties are participating in land stewardship programs that would be valuable for students to review, especially for students living in those counties.
2. Advocating a Position on Land Stewardship.
The State of Iowa calls the office of its state government that deals with farmland the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Would that be a good name for the department in the Michigan State government? Why or why not? Have students write letters to the Governor explaining their views on renaming the Department of Agriculture.