Changes of Land Use in Jefferson Township

1
Changes of Land Use in Jefferson Township

• Michigan State University
• April 23,2002
• Lucus M. Lienau

2
Outline of the paper

• The changing landscape of Jefferson Township
• Surveyors Notes and the MRPI
• The land characteristics
• 1978 and 1998
• This time periods land characteristics
• Types of changes
• Conclusion

3
Jefferson Township, Hillsdale County

• Located in Hillsdale County in the south central
  portion of Michigan
• Featured with with lakes, fields and rolling
  hills from past glaciation.
• Largely rural with farm land, a state game area
  and several public lakes used for recreaion

Source http//www.crs.msu.edu/db/
4
Jefferson Township Aerial Photo
Source Michigan Department of Natural Resources
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Thesis
The use of land in Jefferson township is a
decrease of agriculture land use to more forested
and recreational land over the last 100 years
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Materials and Research

• Comparison of the land from the 1900s to
  present time
• Surveyors notes and Michigan Rural property
  inventory
• Available in The State Archives at the Michigan
  Historical Center
• MRPI data from 1936
• Surveyors notes and County Plats are availble for
  times from 1836 to 1965
• 1978 and 1998 data
• 1978 landuse data from Michigan State University
  Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic
  Information System Map Librarys website
• 1998 data from Michigan Department of Natural
  Resources website database of Aerial photographs

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The State Archives of Michigan

• http//www.sos.state.mi.us/history/archive/index.h
  tml
• Located in the Michigan Historical Center
• Downtown Lansing
• Hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday

Source http//www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/
explore/explore2.html
8
Michigan Rural Property Inventory

• In Hillsdale county, a detailed description of
  surveyed land from 1936.
• The data reveals that much of the land in
  Jefferson Township was used for agriculture with
  the exception of some forested and marsh land in
  what is now Lost Nations State Game Area

9
Land Use Map from 1978
This map includes the entire area of Hillsdale
County
Source http//www.crs.msu.edu/db/
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Changes in 1978

• No explanation on how the data was collected for
  the map. A possiblity is aerial photographs from
  that time period along with ground surveying
• Some change has occurred as the forested areas
  around the Lost Nations area may have increased
• Some farm land is being over taken from
  overgrowth and forestation

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(No Transcript)
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Changes in 1998

• Agricultural land continues to diminish as it is
  replaced by trees and brush
• Forested land highlighted in yellow on the map.
  Created from aerial photographs from the DNR
• Increase of recreational use of the land
• Development of the North Country Trail

13
Recreational Land Use
Hunting Hiking Fishing
Cycling Camping Swimming, etc.
14
Conclusion

• It is evident that change has occurred in
  Jefferson township
• Change will always and continue to occur
• A decrease in agricultural land is giving rise to
  residential land and recreational land in this
  area