HOME > LEARNING > MID-CAREER TRAINING > Land Use Workshop for West Michigan Journalists

Land Use Workshop for West Michigan Journalists
--April 26, 2004--
Journalists on every beat are covering the fallout of the hottest news story in Michigan – the way the state uses its land.

It is a story that affects jobs, politics, education, environment, health, transportation, government, agriculture, religion, city survival.

Land use is a critical quality-of-life issue for readers and viewers. It decides what their community will look like, and whether they’ll want to live there.

Here is a chance to get help telling this complex story. This unique workshop targets West Michigan journalists struggling to cover West Michigan land use issues.

• State and regional experts will describe the critical land use issues facing West Michigan.
• Speakers will suggest potential story ideas and angles.
• Others will help you find the tools to tell the story: aerial photos of your circulation area’s changes over decades, data to give stories substance, software for tracking trends.
• West Michigan lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s staff will discuss and debate Michigan land use policy.

And you will leave with a notebook full of story ideas to pursue as soon as you get home.

The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 26 with lunch included. It is in the Kirkhof Center at Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus.


Measuring Michigan’s use of land


* Michigan develops its land eight times faster than its population grows.

* New households significantly outpace population growth: From 1970 to 2000 households grew 43 percent while population grew 12 percent.

* If current land use patterns continue, between 1.5 million and 2 million more acres of land area will be urbanized in 2020, a 63–87 percent increase over 1990 levels.

* Between 1982 and 1997 Michigan farmland decreased by almost 1.5 million acres or 13.3 percent. The state is expected to lose a quarter of its fruit-growing land over the next 40 years.

* From 1990 to 2000, the population in 13 Michigan cities fell 4.3 percent while the state population rose 6.9 percent.

* Five of the 25 most racially segregated metropolitan regions in the U.S are in Michigan — Detroit, Saginaw, Flint, Benton Harbor, Muskegon.


Sources: Michigan Land Use Leadership Council; Michigan Land Use Institute

Workshop application (pdf)

apply by mail

Agenda

Directions

Map