HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – Five Michigan Tech students gave their thoughts on land planning and tourism in the Western U.P Thursday.
This was during the latest segment of Visit Keweenaw’s ‘Keweenaw Sustainable Tourism Series.’ Multiple tourism and environmental leaders in the area listened to student feedback.
“As diverse as Michigan Tech students are, as far as where we come from, especially in the Midwest, there are a lot of people that will have different opinions and bring different viewpoints that I think a definitely useful for the leaders in the Keweenaw, ” MTU Senior Andie Kozakiewicz said.
Students’ tourism suggestions ranged from enhancing and protecting local assets to keeping the community involved in any changes. They also expressed concerns about development that could disrupt coasts and habitats, or cause air pollution.
To counter this, students suggested the use of wetland permits for development, more green technology use, and repurposing old and abandoned buildings. During several weeks of research, students drew from multiple sources, including the master plans of Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties.
“I think learning how involved the communities are here was really beneficial to me,” Kozakiewicz said. “I come from a really small town where there aren’t these hundred-page-long master plans, so it’s really cool to see that.”
Students also examined the development of the area. Lauren Bartlett, an MTU freshman, particularly noted the development and history of Houghton.
“Houghton has developed a lot in the 100 years,” Bartlett said. “Specifically, from being a resource-driven economy into a much more diverse one, centered around research instead of resources. Copper mining was a big thing in the past, whereas now, it’s a lot more centered around research and Michigan Tech’s goals.”
The students are part of MTU’s new Introduction to Sustainable Tourism class and are one of four groups giving presentations for the series. This collaboration was arranged between Visit Keweenaw and the class teacher, MTU Social Sciences Department Assistant Professor of Geography Mark Rhodes.
“Tourism is only going to become more and more relevant to be thinking about in this area,” Rhodes said. “Planning for those tourists is something that we have to do, or else we’ll be blindsided.”
The final presentation will focus on cultural heritage. Rhodes says that the presentation will be in two weeks.
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