Socioeconomic Development in the Grand Traverse Bay Area

Abstract

The Northwest Economic Development District is a state planning region made up of ten counties which approximate the Grand Traverse Bay watershed area (see Figure 1). It is part of the Upper Great Lakes region--an area of 119 counties in the northern parts of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin --whic h has been identified as socially and economically disadvantaged. The entire Upper Great Lakes region has been the subject of intense study and specia l funding by the federal government in an effort to reestablish social and economic development at a rate com parable to the rest of the country. Since the Grand Traverse Bay area is representative of many areas in the Great Lakes Basin where economic development and the quality of life are closely tied to water resources, this area was chosen to serve as a model for the University of Michigan 's Sea Grant Program . Both the physical shape of the region and the location of population centers are analogous to the larger Lake Michigan area, so the ten counties provide an excellent opportunity to develop methodologies which may be expanded later to accommodate the entire Lake Michigan planning area.