Shoretype Classification of Grand Traverse County Michigan

Abstract

This bulletin is dedicated to a better understanding and appreciation of the narrow strip of land adjacent to the Great Lakes shoreline. This riparian land, and that associated with inland lakes and streams, are intensely developed and utilized throughout all of Michigan. It is these lands which provide the base for Michigan’s tourist industry. Michigan is faced with increasing demands on its recreational resources. This need has been brought about by a rising population density and social and economic changes, which among other things, have resulted in increased leisure time and the need for temporary relief from "high horsepower living." There is an immediate and future need to adjust the population density to the carrying capacity of the land, or to modify certain characteristics of the land in order to meet essential requirements of the population. This bulletin is a very small part of the vast public force concerned with the guidance, management, and development of our land and water resources in the face of these increasing demands.