Social and Economic

Purpose:

Good understanding of social and economic systems and their interactions with natural resources is essential to plan integrated solutions to diverse resource management issues. Our purpose is to define and describe human processes and patterns and interactions between people and natural resources. We are:

Consolidating social and economic measures of conditions and trends generally available from a wide variety of public sources;
Identifying and mapping the interactions between people and natural resources in terms that are useful to policy and decision makers;
Providing an interpretive context for the social and economic conditions and trends in the Great Lakes Assessment study area;
Providing this information to planners, managers and researchers.

Analysis Team:

USDA Forest Service, Ecosystem Management, East Lansing, MI


Mike Vasievich, NRIS Human Dimensions Branch Chief

North Central Research Station, East Lansing, MI


Sharon Hobrla, Computer Specialist

Michigan State University--Department of Forestry, East Lansing, MI

Larry Leefers, Associate Professor, Forest Economics
Gem Castillo, Research Associate

Available Social and Economic Themes

Social and economic information is organized into five broad themes with multiple maps within each theme. Data bases are organized as tables with spatial and temporal references suitable for mapping to county or minor civil division (township) boundaries. Data bases and boundary files for use with ArcView will be made available for download electronically in the future.

A description of the currently available data bases is available in Adobe Acrobat format: SEData.PDF

For more information, contact Mike Vasievich or Sharon Hobrla.

Social and economic information is organized in five major themes as follows:

Social and Cultural Indicators
This theme includes indicators of social conditions, personal welfare, and housing.

Seasonal homes in the United States, 1989.
Seasonal homes in the Lake States as a percent of total housing stock, 1989.
Median value of housing units
Median household income, 1989

Demographic Characteristics
This theme includes distribution and characteristics of the population, age classes, education, migration, and population density.

Resident population, 1930
Resident population, 1940
Resident population, 1950
Resident population, 1960
Resident population, 1970
Resident population, 1980
Resident population, 1990
Resident population, 1995
Percent change in urban population, 1980-1990

Economic Activity
This theme includes information on the labor force, economic activity by major sector, local government finances, and economic dependencies on natural resources.

Resource Interactions
This theme includes information related to land use and resource use such as resource ownership, agriculture, timber resources, mill locations, recreation and tourism patterns.

Conservation Reserve Program-Total acres enrolled
Conservation Reserve Program-Percentage of land planted to grass
Conservation Reserve Program-Total acres of land planted to grass
Conservation Reserve Program-Percentage of land planted to trees
Conservation Reserve Program-Total acres of land planted to trees
Conservation Reserve Program-Soil erodibility index of enrolled land
Vehicle/Deer crashes in the Lake States
Location of sawmills in the Lake States
Public and private campgrounds in the Lake States

Infrastructure
This theme includes features of the built environment, ownership characteristics and major political and ownership boundaries.

National Forests of the Great Lakes
Railroad Lines within the Great Lake Assessment Area
Road Density of Landtype Associations
Roads in Northern Michigan
Roads in Northern Minnesota
Roads in Northern Wisconsin
Minnesota Land Ownership
Wisconsin Land Ownership
Total area of Forest Land
Total Area of Reserved Forest Land
Percentage of Land Classified as Forest Land
Percentage of Forest Land classified as Reserved Forest
Percentage of Forest Land in Forest Industry Ownership
Percentage of Forest Land in Nonindustrial Private Ownership
Percentage of Forest Land in County and Municipal Ownership
Percentage of Forest Land in State Ownership
Percentage of Forest Land in National Forest Ownership
Total Area of Timberland
Area of Timberland in Forest Industry Ownership
Area of Timberland in Nonindustrial Private Ownership
Area of Timberland in County or Municipal Ownership
Area of Timberland in State Ownership
Area of Timberland in National Forest Ownership

 

Reports:

An Analysis of Campground Resources in the Lake States; Larry A. Leefers and J. Michael Vasievich (available only in PDF format)
PDF version: LSCamps.pdf (646 kb)