Human Interactions, Use and Impact
Emojis Have Meanings to Guide You!
📚--->Supplemental Resource!
🔔 ---> Environmental Justice Connection!
📚 Pictured above is a student spending time in their school forest.
What does the phrase mean?
We depend on it. We modify it. We adapt to it.
The term human-environment interaction typically refers to how we affect the environment and are affected by it.
Noting that some things we covered in the previous areas would also fall under this.
In Focus: Lake Huron Watershed and Your Place
Tribal Nations
Pre-European settlement, the Great Lakes basin was home to 15+ Native American Tribes. Today, there are 12 federally recognized Tribes in Michigan (map link) in addition to many Tribal members living around the state.
Land acknowledgement is one way to recognize the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg. Read the first paragraph on this page to see how MSU acknowledges Tribal lands.
📚 🔔 Learn more about land acknowledgement in this MSUE news article.
📚Did you know that Michigan comes from the Ojibwe word, mishigami, meaning "large water"? Many MI community names come from the Ojibwe language. Explore more here.
📚 This article examines how Michigan is working towards fully reflecting Native Americans presence and contributions in the basin.
📚Explore stories sharing Great Lakes Native Culture and Language in The Ways.
Image Source: Milwaukee Public Museum
Ecosystem Services
Drinking Water
Drinking water is sourced either from groundwater or surface water depending on where we live. Public water sources are those you receive a bill for, i.e. municipality run; private are those you don't, i.e. well.
Find out your drinking water source and who oversees the delivery and safety of it here. Check the "Open Map Layer List" at the bottom of the popup screen and then click on the "Locate Drinking Water Providers" option. Enter your zip code and a list will show all the providers in your area and what source they utilize.
Food Systems
We depend on natural resources to support agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, and community food systems. We depend on the pollinators that are required for food crops - 1 out of every 3 bites we take is in thanks to a pollinator.
The Michigan Good Food Charter outlines goals for food systems that support the environment, people and economy.
📚 Read more about the importance of pollinators in our food systems.
📚 Bite into the Michigan Good Food Charter.
📚 Fun fact: Michigan is the highest US producer of dry black beans and asparagus, among others.
Commercial Uses
Commercial use of natural resources largely occurs in the Lake Huron watershed via fishing, timber, minerals, agriculture and water extraction.
📚 This Department of the Interior How It Works page outlines federal laws, revenue and other aspects of natural resource extraction.
📚 Learn more about Michigan's forest products industry.
📚 Dig into research on minerals present in Michigan and the demand for those.
📚 Net some knowledge on Michigan's changing commercial fishing industry.
Recreation and Access
Recreation intersects with areas such as soil health, financial support to maintain water quality and wildlife populations, and community health.
🔔 The access to recreation and green space is not equitable across Michigan with transportation, cultural and other barriers.
Invasive and Non-Native Species
Non-native species are those brought to an area by humans, intentionally or otherwise, and are able to survive there, either independently or with human intervention. Human perspective of these species may be positive or negative and is often influenced by value systems around natural resources.
An invasive species is any living thing that is not native to a specific area (ex. watershed, state or other geographical descriptor) AND that cause ecological, human health or economic harm.
Head to this interactive map and see if any invasive species have been identified in your area.
📚 Check out these identification training modules for invasive plants and animals! Perhaps work through one for a species on your site.
📚 Some species are prohibited by law in Michigan (meaning they can't be sold) and some are on watch lists as potential issues in the future.
Image Source: State of Michigan
Types of Pollution
Aquatic Connectivity
Dams and culverts serve human purposes such as transportation safety, electricity generation and providing recreation opportunities. They can cause connectivity issues for aquatic species during all portions of their life cycles. For example, many species migrate upstream to spawn and encountering a barrier restricts the available habitat for that.
Much of Michigan's dam and road-stream crossing infrastructure is reaching its end of life or design standards have changed since its installation.
📚 Interested in barriers within your favorite stream? Navigate to your watershed overview and then click the Find Road Stream Crossings Link for that watershed*.
*Only for Northern Lower Peninsula
Looking to the Future
As humans intentionally and unintentionally modify landscapes, some species "win" while others "lose." The ability for these winners and losers to evolve, recover, and thrive in our rapidly changing world depends on many factors that we don't yet fully understand. Humans' role in restoring, protecting, conserving, preserving, stewarding, and/or managing landscapes is one that is complicated and deeply personal and each of the terms carries varied meaning depending on your culture, individual perspective and purpose.
Watch this 2-minute video for one (more hopeful) perspective from a scientist who studies this.
📚 Check out the snapshot for your county of land-use change forecasts; amount and type of open space; areas of prime farmland in your county; and water quality indicators.
📚 Recommended additions to your summer reading list on this topic: A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold; The Overstory by Richard Powers (fiction); As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, From Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker.
👥 Community Partner Connections 👥
Who are some of the partners that focus on Humans Interactions in the Great Lakes basin and Michigan?
✅ Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan
📚 Find contact information and more about what their environmental team works on.
✅ MDNR - Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry
📚 Find contact information and more about what they do here.
✅ Local Trails Council
📚For example, check out Top of Michigan Trails.
📚Supplemental Resources📚
Want to know who owns the water? Learn more from the MI American Planning Association.
Public Trust Doctrine
What is the public trust doctrine as it relates to natural resources?
Learn about the Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund with this video. Check out this PDF to see what projects have been supported by these dollars in your county.
Click here to learn more about shorelines and the Public Trust Doctrine in MI. Dr. Richard Norton, University of MI, highlights the legal complexities as part of a Planning for Resilient Coastal Communities in MI workshop.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
These 17 goals reflect the interaction of human rights and environmental needs in addressing climate change impacts, resilience and mitigation.