Waterways Form Economic Development Strategy

The shift to a service-oriented, high-tech economy has prompted a fundamental change in the relationship between communities and their rivers. Rather than dam rivers for power or use them to move wastes, people now demand natural, healthy rivers for 21st-century quality of life.This river revolution now is gaining momentum in northwest Michigan with citizen efforts to bring the Pine and Upper Manistee rivers under protective Natural River Act zoning. The Michigan Land Use Institute's Andy Guy reports on the citizen-led campaign.