LANSING -- How do we tame the wilderness?
One way is with maps, which represent the closing-in of open spaces, the drawing of what often are artificial borders and boundaries, the naming of unnamed natural features and the controlling of wild areas.
Maps such as the two million distributed annually by the Michigan Department of Transportation help people travel from place to place. And high-tech Department of Environmental Quality maps help protect high-risk erosion areas along the shorelines of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior.
In "Mapping in Michigan and the Great Lakes Region" (Michigan State University Press, $69.95), the authors emphasize "the purposes or intentions that underlay mapping and cartography as a political, social and cultural process." Central Michigan University history professor David Macleod edited the book.
Mapmaking in the region didn't begin with European explorers, the book points out, but with Native Americans, and continued through the colonial era when recently arrived Europeans depicted the "colony of Michilimackinac" -- the French fur-trading post on the Straits of Mackinac.
The book covers the once-disputed international boundary between Michigan and Ontario, settlements in southeast Michigan, "Indian Country" around Grand Traverse Bay, recruitment of settlers -- or immigrants -- to populate the state's unpopulated areas and development of detailed county atlases.
Among the illustrations is a bird's-eye view of central Detroit in 1889, including more than a dozen sailing ships and steamers on the Detroit River. Another, from 1839, distorts the shape of Michigan and thus "turned the mitten peninsula into an arrowhead," the book explains.
And in 1883, the state commissioner of immigration's promotional booklet, "Michigan and Its Resources," hyped "industries, agricultural productions, institutions and means of transportation," as well as "the situation of its unoccupied lands" to attract would-be settlers.
As for official highway maps, boosterism was a major motivation behind their widespread distribution -- to lure tourists and travelers. Michigan's 1936 map included photos of fishing and boating scenes and boasted, "There are vast public hunting grounds where large and small game is plentiful."
Today, however, MDOT's goal is to produce a "transportation map" rather than a tourism map, according to communications specialist Janet Foran.
"Many, many people have the same map and don't know what year it is -- that dog-eared copy in their glove box," she said.
Not only does the cover theme differ from year to year -- MDOT will announce 2008's design in January -- but about 200 changes were made in the 2007 edition. For example, the map added red triangles to designate rest areas with family bathroom facilities.
Foran said the 2008 maps will include information on how to drive safely in roundabouts, with some such intersections marked on city map inserts.
The state maps cost 19 cents each to print and are distributed free.
Meanwhile, technology is dramatically changing the map-making process, said Penny Holt, a DEQ land and water management analyst. Her office is updating maps showing high-risk erosion areas along the Great Lakes coasts.
Updates are necessary because the state regulates what property owners can do on their land in such areas, including construction, terrain alteration and vegetation removal, she said.
"The shoreline is a dynamic area," Holt said.
DEQ estimates that 300 miles of shoreline are at high risk of erosion because of changes in high water levels, storms and wind, surface water runoff and other factors. As a result, about 7,500 property owners are subject to setback requirements for structures on their properties.
When Holt began her work 23 years ago, she used manual equipment to compare photos of historic and modern maps of the shoreline. Now she uses computers and data from global positioning systems.
"We feel it's a much more accurate map because we're using true features on the ground," she said.
And she said it's critical that people who are considering buying shoreline property know in advance -- "before they put their money on the table" -- whether the land is subject to regulations and whether their intended projects will require permits.
DEQ updates maps for two or three counties each year, and she's now working on Alcona and Arenac counties. The process already is complete for Lake Michigan from Emmett County south and for Lake Huron bordering the Thumb.
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