| As part of the waterfront redesign process, a group of Traverse City residents received an introduction to “walkable communities” from nationally known expert Dan Burden. Photo: Breederland |
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Coastal Monitoring Buoy Live meteorological data collected by an automated buoy in Grand Traverse Bay are a valuable component of ecosystem monitoring. Launched in 2005, the buoy is part of a developing Great Lakes Observing System, modeled after the Integrated Ocean Observing System being deployed across the world’s oceans. Also See: |
Northwest District Articles  Your Bay, Your Say Residents Weigh Pros and Cons of Dam Removal Mapping Forage Fish in the Upper Great Lakes |
Your Bay, Your Say Most visitors to Michigan’s scenic Traverse City are quick to appreciate its northern boundary, Grand Traverse Bay—a picturesque expanse of water framed by the historic downtown, open natural areas, and pedestrian walkways. Local residents also value these amenities, and many are taking part in a unique collaborative process to enhance them. The waterfront redesign initiative Your Bay, Your Say emerged in 2005 with the goal of redeveloping two miles of shoreline along west Grand Traverse Bay, including new space where a coal-fired power plant was removed and where a local zoo was housed. “A big part of the initiative is to improve the connection between the downtown core and the waterfront,” explains Sea Grant Extension Educator Mark Breederland. “Many of the public discussions emphasized the importance of maintaining and improving access to the shoreline.” Breederland is one of many local partners assisting in coordinating initiative activities. Additional collaborators include an urban planning team made up of students from Michigan State University, led by Warren Rauhe, and several landscape architecture students from the University of Michigan (UM), led by Larissa Larsen. As part of their work, the UM students created and presented a number of waterfront redesign concepts and completed a character study of the Traverse City downtown. One facet of the project involved distributing disposable cameras to 125 residents and visitors to photograph what they valued most about Traverse City. The students used the images to form a better understanding of community assets. “Natural features including the Bay were the most frequently identified asset,” says Larsen, “and this echoes the importance of the natural environment that residents had identified in public meetings.” Next steps in the process are to finalize a community consensus and complete detailed specifications for particular zones of the waterfront. With support from the Michigan Coastal Management Program, Traverse City will begin the process of moving from design to implementation in 2006.
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