The Great Lakes Geographer
Volumes 12.1 & 12.2, 2005
Volume 12, No. 1
Evolving Business Centres in Canada: The Establishment versus The Next Wave
Murray D. Rice
Department of Geography, University of North Texas
Abstract
of the businesses that dominate the country’s economy, while business centres in the other regions of the country have played a lesser role in all but a few economic sectors. This paper studies the evolution of Canada’s system of business centres by contrasting the locational patterns of headquarters for two groups of businesses: the largest businesses in the country, the Canadian Establishment, and the fastest-growing businesses in the country, the Next Wave. The results show that while the country’s core region dominates both groups, the Next Wave is most highly attracted to suburban locations in the national core. The Canadian Establishment is dominated by central-city locations in Toronto and Montreal, as expected, but is also more spatially dispersed than the Next Wave at a provincial level of analysis. The paper provides a number of perspectives on these spatial distributions and suggests that the findings have meaning for the further development of business location theory.
Keywords: location theory, quaternary location, corporate headquarters, economic development, establishment, next wave
Spatial Trends in Barn Building Permits
Christine Eveland
Department of Agricultural Economics and Business, University of Guelph
Alfons Weersink
Department of Agricultural Economics and Business, University of Guelph
Wayne Caldwell
School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
Wanhong Yang
Department of Geography, University of Guelph
Abstract
42 municipalities in the livestock intensive region of southwestern Ontario. Most of the permits were issued for barns less than 100 livestock units. Most of the permits for large facilities (larger than 500 livestock units) were exclusively for hog farms. There was no spatial concentration of large facilities away from townships with requirements for a nutrient management plan before building permit approval. Instead, new and expanding barn facilities are being built largely in the traditional livestock production regions. Ontario is currently undergoing a transition from local regulation of livestock facilities to a provincial system. The new regulatory framework will not change the continued concentration of production.
Keywords: building permits, spatial distribution, Ontario, livestock barns
A Political Ecology of Forest Exploitation in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan: 1800 – 1950
Christina M. Hupy and Antoinette M. G. A. WinklerPrins
Department of Geography, Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1115
Abstract
Historical literature written about logging activity in Lower Michigan and the Great Lakes region between 1800-1950 is analyzed within two political ecology frameworks, Yapa’s ‘nexus of relations’ and Blaikie’s ‘chain of explanation.’ The dominant character of each of the factors composing the nexus of relations; social, cultural, economic, academic, ecological, technical, and political, during the period from 1800-1950, were identified and placed within the chains of explanation. Four distinct time periods were delineated based on the character of each of these factors encompassing settlement of the region; the establishment and beginning of the logging era; the intense exploitation of the forests; and the downfall of the logging industry. By interpreting the changes in each factor over time, linkages were drawn between the factors and landscape degradation that occurred as a result of logging activity. Through this research we found that intense modification of the Great Lakes forests from logging was caused by many interconnected factors that reflected not only economic situations during the different time periods, but also other dimensions such as human perceptions of the forests. All factors in the nexus played important roles in process of deforestation.
Keywords: logging history, historical political ecology, land degradation, Michigan
Resisting Global, Buying Local: Goldschmidt Revisited
Suzanne Belliveau,
Department of Geography, University of Guelph
Guelph, Canada
Abstract
Through the globalization of the food system, distance has grown between the producer and consumer and wealth and power has been consolidated in the hands of few corporations, consequences that Walter Goldschmidt prophesized years ago. Recently, there has been an attempt to counter these effects through a ‘local food movement.’ The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning that is attached to the word ‘local,’ and to discuss the potential of the movement to counteract some of the negative effects of corporate agriculture. Often, ‘local’ is associated with attributes such as quality, freshness, ecologically sound farming, and/or small-scale farming. However, in a ‘spatially proximate’ food supply system, where there is no interaction between producer and consumer, there is no guarantee that the food possesses any of these qualities, and hence may in fact be supporting corporate agriculture. Face-to-face supply systems take on additional meanings of ‘local’ associated with social relationships, trust and reciprocity, by reducing the distance between producer and consumer. In either case, while buying local may enhance the social well-being of farmers, there is no evidence that the effects of corporate agriculture are being countered.
Keywords: local food, short food supply chains, corporate agriculture, meaning of local, farmers’ markets, Goldschmidt
Volume 12, No. 2
The Temporal Landscape in the Writing of Louis Bromfield
Velvet Nelson
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, Texas 77340
Abstract
Throughout Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield’s long career in the first half of the twentieth century, he produced both fiction and non-fiction writings on a wide variety of subjects, but there was one topic that consistently reappeared in novels, short stories, essays, and non-fiction works: the blending of people and nature in the farm landscape. This paper will examine the landscape concept and its relationship to ideas of both nature and time, as illustrated by examples from Louis Bromfield’s writing. It will first review traditional understandings of landscape and time, particularly discussions of landscape memory or vision, and explain the significance of a more complete temporal perspective. This will be followed by examples gleaned from four of Bromfield’s works: a novel, a novella, a short story, and a personal narrative. Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion of implications of the temporal perspective on landscape as it applies to people and nature.
Keywords: landscape, literature, Louis Bromfield, nature, time, Malabar Farm
Changes in the Distribution of the Hispanic Population in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1990-2000: A Study of the Succession Process
Evelyn D. Ravuri
Department of History and Geography, Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, Michigan 48710
Abstract
Grand Rapids, Michigan has hosted a Hispanic community since the settling out of Mexican agricultural workers in the early 1900s. During the 1990s, the city’s Hispanic population increased by 175 percent while non-Hispanic whites experienced a decline in population. This paper examines the movement of Hispanics into non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black tracts between 1990 and 2000. During the 1990s, Hispanics increased at the expense of non-Hispanic whites in suburban tracts contiguous to the Hispanic enclave. An attempt to determine what effect Hispanic population change has had on turnover of non-Hispanic white households by tract is investigated using multiple regression analysis. The results confirm that increased numbers of Hispanics led to higher turnover rates of non-Hispanic white households, and that the process closely adheres to the urban succession model advanced by Burgess in the 1920s. The expansion of the Hispanic enclave now provides a buffer zone between a non-Hispanic black inner city and non-Hispanic white dominated suburbs to the Southwest.
Key Words: Hispanics, Michigan, succession, neighborhood change
Twenty Years of Efforts towards Ecosystem Planning in the Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario Canada: 1987 to 2006
Patrick L. Lawrence
Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toledo
Toledo, Ohio 43606
J. Gordon Nelson
Parks Research Forum of Ontario, University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
Abstract
Since the establishment of the Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, Canada various ecosystem planning initiatives have been developed. This paper reviews the twenty year history of these planning efforts within the context of the preparation of an ecosystem conservation plan. This includes research completed by the Heritage Resources Centre at the University of Waterloo which reviewed scientific, policy and other types of studies and conducted meetings and interviews with concerned persons on existing information and knowledge required to develop an ecosystem conservation plan for the national park. To organize and better understand the issues for planning purposes six main categories were developed to summarize the individual issues and the connections that exist between them: communication; recreational technology and activities; transport and communication infrastructure; resource uses; environmental conditions; and land use planning and management. These six categories of issues were in turn organized in terms of stresses, effects and responses. Significant natural features were identified and the relationship between resource and land uses and significant natural features was highlighted by the identification of several areas of concern A range of management, planning and decision-making arrangements and their environmental effects has been identified and analyzed in a general way as a basis for ecosystem conservation planning in Bruce Peninsula National Park.
Keywords: national parks, conservation, ecosystem, planning
Visiting A Great Lakes Sand Dune: The Example of Mt. Pisgah in Holland, Michigan
Deanna van Dijk and D. Robert Vink
Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Studies, Calvin College
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49546 USA
Abstract
Mt. Pisgah is a large parabolic dune and attractive local landmark on the southeast coast of Lake Michigan in Holland, Michigan. A 2005 study of Mt. Pisgah investigated local claims that visitors are causing a decrease in dune height. Methods included mapping dune topography and surface characteristics, administering questionnaires to dune visitors and local residents, and collecting historical information from interviews, written accounts and photographs. Results show that Mt. Pisgah’s height of 48 meters above Lake Michigan is lower than its reported height by 8 meters. Dune changes are caused by a combination of natural aeolian processes and human impacts. The most distinctive human impacts are a ramp of sand on the dune’s slipface along a popular pathway, widening of the blowout on the dune’s windward slope, and development of a notch at the dune crest. More than 3400 people visit Mt. Pisgah each summer; most visitors are not from the local area and do not believe there are problems with the dune. In contrast, local residents believe that the amount of visitors and damage to the dune are major problems. A management strategy of boardwalks, stabilization and public education could mitigate impacts of the high numbers of visitors.
Keywords: Great Lakes, coastal dunes, human impacts, dune management
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