Grand Traverse Bay: A Time of Choice Recreation
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Issue Date
1972-08
Authors
Ryner, Peter C.
Subject
Grand Traverse Bay ; Sea Grant Program ; University of Michigan ; Grand Traverse Bay Shorelands Coordinating Committee ; Michigan Water Resources Commission ; School of Natural Resources ; Great Lakes ; Coastal Zone ; Michigan Tourist Council
Abstract
In large metropolita n areas such as Detroit, and
even in suburban areas, opportunities for water oriented
public recreation are limited or nonexistent.
Those facilities which are available
require careful planning and constant upkeep.
There are usually too many people and too little
space.
Traverse Bay citizens have benefited from this
situation. Much time, money, and effort are spent
in telling the world of the abundance of scenic
amenities and recreational opportunities with in
the bay area. Highways designed to increase
the incoming flow of urban visitors are proposed.
Motels and private camping grounds
flourish, along with state and federal parks.
New form s of recreational activity and
equipment have made recreation a year-round
local industry, and there appears to be a good
potential for continued growth .
But as the area becomes increasingly popular,
local citizens may gain a false sense of having
generated this growth , and feel that somehow
they are in control o f it. W e suggest that it might
be more m eaningful in this context to say that
Grand Traverse Bay has been subjected to increasing
recreational pressure, and that local
efforts to stimulate demand can only partially
account for this pressure.
This paper suggests that there is a need to re-examine the benefits of shorelands-based recreation
as a major bay-area industry. We feel
that increasingly, some forms of recreation can
become a local financial burden, diminish the
quality of the shorelands and water of the area,
and result in increasing regional, state, and
federal control.
Description
Partial OCR done. 27 pages total.