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People in the Great Lakes Region What's New | Overview | General Resources | Population | Related Resources 
What's New Thunder Bay Coast Guard radio station's closure raises concerns The Sault Star (2/28) A federal plan to close Thunder Bay's Coast Guard radio station and monitor Lake Superior waters out of Sarnia is raising concerns among mariners and volunteer rescuers. Lakeshore gets shuttle funding South Bend Tribune (2/20) The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is set to receive $193,400 from the Federal Transit Administration for a shuttle service to connect visitors traveling by commuter rail to the park along Lake Michigan's southern shore. The Pure Michigan effect: 3.2 million out-of-state visitors, $1 billion economic impact MLive (2/19) Long dominated by in-state travelers, Michigan’s tourism industry has fundamentally changed in recent years. Out-of-state travelers now account for the majority of leisure travel spending in Michigan, according to state data. COMMENTARY: Keeping our parks and recreation The Michigan Daily (2/19) The United States’ National Park program has a long history of providing citizens with an opportunity to explore and experience nature. The federal government, with the help of the private sector, needs to recommit itself to maintaining our national parks. Annual cleanup held by St. Clair Shores Waterfront Environmental Committee The Macomb Daily (2/18) This spring will mark the 18th annual Nautical Coast Cleanup along Lake St. Clair and more conservation-minded folks are being invited to join the cause. Effort enlists citizens to shine light on light pollution Great Lakes Echo (2/13) Light may be one of the most overlooked environmental threats to the Great Lakes, according to a project that recently mapped them.
Overview Great Lakes Basin population figures vary because of different methodologies used to sort out metropolitan and urban county populations that overlap the hydrologic boundary. A reasonable estimate for 1991 is 33.4 million people for the combined Canadian and U.S. Basin populations. This table shows the population for the individual Great Lakes basins. One area of the Great Lakes Basin that presents special problems for determining Basin population is in the Chicago metropolitan area where substantial alteration of the natural hydrologic basin and direction of water flow has occurred. As a water quality measure, Lake Michigan water is diverted through the Illinois waterway at a long-term average rate of 3,200 cubic feet per second. This diversion, which has been in effect since 1848 along with a more recent one affecting the Calumet River, has converted 673 square miles of original Lake Michigan watershed into part of the Illinois River-Mississippi River drainage basin. By using the original Lake Michigan basin boundary rather than the present "man-made" one which demarks a drainage area only 11 percent of its former size, the population of the Lake Michigan basin is increased by nearly 3 million persons, almost all residing in Cook county. In recent years, compared with its earlier heyday, the Great Lakes Basin population has seen very little growth relative to the rest of the U.S. and Canada. For example, while the combined population of the U.S. and Canada grew by 22% from 1970 to 1990, rising from 225 million to 275 million, the binational population of the Great Lakes Basin grew by less than 1%. This disparity in population growth rates indicates a redistribution in regional economic activity with older, industrialized regions, such as the Basin, losing population in favor of newer, expanding regions. In the U.S. this has taken the form of people relocating to the South and Southwest as the rapid growth of these economies has become a magnet for migration. Climate-influenced retirement moves have added to the outbound numbers. Both sides of the border reflect similar and divergent population trends. Ontario, with more than a third of Canada's population, has been gaining population nearly twice as fast as the Great Lakes states but its rate of growth is also slowing. By 1990, the Great Lakes States' population increased by only 1.7% since 1970 whereas Ontario's 1991 population increased by nearly a third or 31% from 1971. Both Canada and the United States are experiencing similar age structure changes as the post-war baby boom bulge advances. A new baby boom is likely to kick in by the end of the 21st century's first decade when births are expected to increase steadily. Fertility patterns by race and ethnicity are expected to remain varied. References: A Changing Great Lakes Economy: Economic and Environmental Linkages, State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Background Paper, 1995, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Great Lakes Commission
General Resources Human Health and the Great Lakes U.S. EPA Region 5 / Great Lakes Commission Featuring information on hot topics like drinking water and fish consumption, Human Health and the Great Lakes provides complete and up-to-date information about issues of human health in the Great Lakes region. Also contains a comprehensive glossary of Great Lakes terms and several links to related online resources. Based on data taken from the EPA's Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) studies. Activist Toolkit Michigan Land Use Institute The MLUI has built a toolkit that grassroots activists can use to become more effective in the public policy debate. Included are sample letters, organizing tips, email addresses of key state regulators and lawmakers, and useful Web sites. People and the Great Lakes Great Lakes Atlas, Environment Canada and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The Great Lakes Atlas is an excellent resource and includes a chapter on people and their activities in the Great Lakes region, including an overview of the native people, early settlement and development.
Note: *U.S. totals are based on 2000 census data. **Canada total is based on information from the Life of the Lakes: Great Lakes Basin poster published in 2003
Related Resources GLIN: Demographics in the Great Lakes Region GLIN: Human Health Effects of Pollution in the Great Lakes Region GLIN: Native Peoples of the Great Lakes Region
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