1.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
2.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
3.
State park
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State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use state as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, the term is also used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar to parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, in general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. As of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, there are some 739 million annual visits to the countrys state parks. The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail,217,367 campsites, many states include designations beyond state park in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, some state park systems include long-distance trails and historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, however several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a park since 1825. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its forests as The State Park but, needing money. The first state park with the designation of state park was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, list of U. S. state parks National Association of State Park Directors Wilderness preservation systems in the United States Ahlgren, Carol. The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development, the State Park Movement in America, A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement, oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp, 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. When Forests Trumped Parks, The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950, Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp, 203-224
4.
Washtenaw County, Michigan
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Washtenaw County /ˈwɒʃtᵻnɔː/ is a county located in the U. S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 344,791, the county seat is Ann Arbor. The county was founded in 1822 and organized as a county in 1826, Washtenaw County comprises the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI Combined Statistical Area. The county is home to the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College, the earliest histories mention trade conducted in the area at the Potawatomi Trail and Pontiac Trail crossings of the Huron River by French traders, and later English then American settlers. The first successful settlement was established at the present site of Ypsilanti about 1809 by French traders, in 1822, the Legislative Council of the Michigan Territory government defined the name and boundaries of the county, however, it was at first administered as a part of Wayne County. The word, Washtenaw is a variant of the Ojibwe word, in the Ojibwe language, the word Wash-ten-ong literally translates as far away waters, and was then used by the Ojibwe as the name for the Grand River due to the great length of that river. Accordingly, most literally, the definition of the word Washtenaw could be said to mean, four years after the first platting out of the county, Washtenaw county was established as a separate self-administered county by an act of the Michigan Territorial Legislature, in 1826. It was attached for administrative purposes to Wayne County until when county government was seated, Ingham and other counties were formed from portions of territorial Washtenaw County. Swamps were drained and farms were tiled to lower the water table, the swamp northwest of the I-94 and US-23 intersection, and areas within Waterloo Recreation Area still appear as they did to early settlers. As productive farms became established, the local deer herds grew, in the 1820s and 1830s, the events surrounding the independence of Greece from Turkey inspired construction of Greek Revival buildings, and the names of townships, towns, and children. The frostbitten constitutional convention was held at Ann Arbor, the county seat, following resolution of the Toledo War, in which Michigan Territory gave up its claim to the Toledo strip in exchange for most of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan became a state on January 26,1837. The University of Michigan, founded at Detroit in 1817, was moved by the state to Ann Arbor in 1839 as a consolation for the city not being named the new state capital. The University subsequently became and remains the largest employer in the county, in 1849, the Michigan State Normal School was established in Washtenaws oldest settlement, the city of Ypsilanti. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 722 square miles. Livingston County Oakland County Wayne County Monroe County Lenawee County Jackson County Ingham County As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 344,791 people residing in the county. 74. 5% were White,12. 7% Black or African American,7. 9% Asian,0. 3% Native American,1. 2% of some other race and 3. 4% of two or more races. 16. 0% were of German,7. 6% English,7. 5% Irish,6. 3% American and 5. 0% Polish ancestry, Washtenaw has the highest proportion of Asian-American residents of any Michigan county. As of the census of 2000,17. 4% of county residents were of German ancestry,9. 0% cited English,8. 4% Irish,5. 3% Polish and 5. 0% American ancestry
5.
U.S. Route 12 in Michigan
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US Highway 12 is an east–west US Highway that runs from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. In Michigan it runs for 210 miles between New Buffalo and Detroit as a state highway and Pure Michigan Byway. On its western end, the highway is mostly a two-lane road that runs through the southern tier of counties roughly parallel to the Indiana state line, in between Coldwater and the Ann Arbor area, the highway angles northeasterly and passes the Michigan International Speedway. East of Ypsilanti, US12 follows a divided highway routing on Michigan Avenue into Detroit, when US12 was designated in Michigan on November 11,1926, along with the other original US Highways, it ran along a more northerly course. It entered from Indiana as it now, but it followed the Lake Michigan shoreline farther north to Benton Harbor–St. Joseph before turning eastward to run through Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, in the Ann Arbor area, it followed a more northerly path into Detroit before terminating downtown. In the 1940s and 1950s, sections of the highway were converted into expressways and freeways, starting in 1959, these freeway segments were renumbered as part of I-94, and in January 1962, US12 was shifted to replace US Highway 112. That highway, when it was designated in 1926 replaced the original M-23 along the Chicago Road, later, US112 replaced the first M-151 when the former was extended to New Buffalo in the mid-1930s. Since 1962, the highway has remained unchanged aside from minor truncations in the city of Detroit. US112 previously had two loops, both of which were renumbered Business US12 in 1962. In 2010, the Niles business loop was decommissioned, but the one in Ypsilanti remains, one section of the former US112 was renumbered US 112S for a few years in the 1930s. Between the state line near Michiana and the interchange with I-94 near New Buffalo, the full length of the highway in the state is also a Pure Michigan Historic Byway. Outside of the cities, most of US12 is a rural. One section runs concurrently with I-94 south of Ypsilanti, from there eastward, the US12 is a divided highway and then a boulevard into the Detroit area. The entire length of the highway east of Coldwater is listed on the National Highway System, a network of important to the USs economy, defense. US12 enters the state of Michigan southwest of New Buffalo near the town of Michiana, US12 intersects I-94 less than a mile east of this turn and continues due east along Pulaski Highway through rural farmland. The highway is the main east–west street as it crosses through Three Oaks in southern Berrien County, east of Galien, the highway dips southward around Dayton Lake before passing south of Buchanan. The highway continues eastward, intersecting US31 near Niles, east of that freeway, US12 expands into an expressway as the Niles Bypass
6.
Civilian Conservation Corps
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The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was expanded to young men ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the head of the agency, the CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. At the same time, it implemented a general natural resource conservation program in every state, maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Over the course of its nine years in operation,3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them shelter, clothing. The American public made the CCC the most popular of all the New Deal programs, principal benefits of an individuals enrollment in the CCC included improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans, approximately 15,000 Native Americans participated in the program, helping them weather the Great Depression. Despite its popular support, the CCC was never a permanent agency and it depended on emergency and temporary Congressional legislation and funding to operate. By 1942, with World War II and the draft in operation, the need for work relief declined, as governor of New York, Roosevelt had run a similar program on a much smaller scale. He promised this law would provide 250,000 young men with meals, housing, uniforms, the Emergency Conservation Work Act was introduced to Congress the same day and enacted by voice vote on March 31. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6101 on April 5,1933 which established the CCC organization and appointed a director, Robert Fechner, the organization and administration of the CCC was a new experiment in operations for a federal government agency. A CCC Advisory Council was composed of a representative each of the supervising departments. In addition, the Office of Education and Veterans Administration participated in the program, to end the opposition from labor unions Roosevelt chose Robert Fechner, vice president of the American Machinists Union, as director of the corps. William Green, head of the American Federation of Labor, was taken to the first camp to demonstrate that there would be no job training involved beyond simple manual labor. Reserve officers from the U. S. Army were in charge of the camps, General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the program but said that the number of Army officers and soldiers assigned to the camps was affecting the readiness of the Regular Army. But the Army also found benefits in the program. When the draft began in 1940, the policy was to make CCC alumni corporals, CCC also provided command experience to Organized Reserve Corps officers. Through the CCC, the Regular Army could assess the performance of both Regular and Reserve Officers
7.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
8.
Metro Detroit
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The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in Southeast Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are several definitions of the area, including the official statistical areas designated by the Office of Management and Budget, Metro Detroit is known for its automotive heritage, arts, entertainment, popular music, and sports. The area includes a variety of landscapes, parks, and beaches. It is one of the nations largest metropolitan economies, with seventeen Fortune 500 companies and this urbanized area covers parts of the counties of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne. These counties are referred to as the Detroit Tri-County Area and had a population of 3,862,888 as of the 2010 census with an area of 1,967.1 square miles. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 4,296,250 with an area of 3,913 square miles. It had a population of 5,318,744 as of the 2010 census, lenawee County was removed from the CSA in 2000, but added back in 2013. With the adjacent city of Windsor, Ontario and its suburbs, when the nearby Toledo metropolitan area and its commuters are taken into account, the region constitutes a much larger population center. An estimated 46 million people live within a 300-mile radius of Detroit proper, Metro Detroit is at the center of an emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis. Detroit and the region constitute a major center of commerce and global trade, most notably as home to Americas Big Three automobile companies, General Motors, Ford. Detroits six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of about 4.3 million, in May 2012, the Department of Labor reported metropolitan Detroits unemployment rate at 9. 9%. The Detroit MSA had a Gross Metropolitan Product of $197.7 billion in 2010, firms in the region pursue emerging technologies including biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and hydrogen fuel cell development. Metro Detroit is one of the health care economies in the U. S. according to a 2003 study measuring health care industry components. Casino gaming plays an important economic role, with Detroit the largest US city to offer casino resort hotels, caesars Windsor, Canadas largest, complements the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Greektown Casino in the city. The casino hotels contribute significant tax revenue along with thousands of jobs for residents, gaming revenues have grown steadily, with Detroit ranked as the fifth largest gambling market in the United States for 2007. When Casino Windsor is included, Detroits gambling market ranks either third or fourth, there are about four thousand factories in the area. The domestic auto industry is headquartered in Metro Detroit. The area is also an important source of engineering job opportunities, a 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the Detroit–Windsor region and $13 billion in annual production depend on the citys international border crossing
9.
Belle Isle Park (Michigan)
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Belle Isle, officially Belle Isle Park, is a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada. Owned by the City of Detroit, it is managed as a park by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources through a 30-year lease initiated in 2013. Belle Isle is the largest city-owned island park in the United States and is the third largest island in the Detroit River after Grosse Ile and it is connected to mainland Detroit by the MacArthur Bridge. It also previously housed a Nature Center where visitors were able to traverse wooded trails and view wildlife natural habitats, a former Belle Isle Zoo, riding stables, the island includes a half-mile swimming beach. The island was settled by French colonists in the 18th century, the Island was once the estate of General Alexander Macomb, Jr. whose monument stands in the Washington Boulevard Historic District in downtown Detroit. On July 4,1845, a picnic party was held on the island to change the name to “Belle Isle” in honor of Miss Isabelle Cass. Belle Isle literally means island in French. It is misspelled according to contemporary French rules, however, prominent urban park designer Frederick Law Olmsted created a design for the island in the 1880s however, only some elements of his design were completed. The 1908 Belle Isle Casino building is not a gambling facility. A highlight of Belle Isle is a botanical garden and the Belle Isle Conservatory. Both the conservatory and the adjacent aquarium were designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn, who designed city landmarks such as Cadillac Place, on one night in 1908 Byron Carter of Cartercar stopped to help a stranded motorist on Belle Isle. When he cranked her Cadillac, it kicked back and broke his jaw, complications from the injury turned into pneumonia and he died. The island park served as a ground by the U. S. military during World War II for a re-enactment of a Pacific island invasion by the Navy. The island was temporarily renamed Bella Jima, and Detroiters were treated to the sight of an invasion without the bloodshed. It was conducted after the invasion of Iwo Jima, architect Cass Gilbert designed Belle Isles James Scott Memorial Fountain. Gilberts other works include the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, william Livingstone Memorial Light, the only marble lighthouse in the United States, is on the east end of the island, with sumptuous materials and architecture. It was named for the president of the Lakes Carriers Association who advocated safety, at one time, the island housed a canoe concession, which provided rental canoes and stored private ones. Canoe riders often stopped at the nearby Remick Band Shell which hosted concerts from 1950 to 1980
10.
Fort Wayne (Detroit)
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Fort Wayne is located in the city of Detroit, Michigan, at the foot of Livernois Avenue in the Delray neighborhood. The fort is situated on the Detroit River at a point where it is about a mile to the Canadian shore, the original 1848 limestone barracks still stands, as does the 1845 star fortification. On the fort grounds but outside the star fort are additional barracks, officers quarters, hospital, shops, recreation building, commissary, guard house, garage. The fort sits on 96 acres, since the 1970s,83 acres, including the original star fort and a number of buildings, has been operated by the city of Detroit. The remaining area is operated by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers as a boatyard, the fort was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The site of Fort Wayne has a history going back to about the year 1000 A. D, approximately 19 Native American burial mounds were present in the immediate area, as well as a larger one at the mouth of the Rouge River. A type of pottery found there is unique to the site, the present star fort was built atop one of the burial mounds, and it is from this site that Springwells Township took its name. The site originally consisted of a sand mound, with freshwater springs found along the marshy waterfront of the Detroit River. Fort Wayne is Detroits third fort, the first, Fort Detroit, was built by the French in 1701. This fort, constructed shortly after Cadillac landed, was manned by the French until it was surrendered to the British in 1760 during the French and Indian War. The second fort, Fort Lernoult, was built by the British a few years later, when the United States took over Detroit, Fort Lernoult was renamed Fort Shelby. The opening shots of the War of 1812 were fired in the vicinity of the future site. Although war had not been officially declared yet, Michigan militiamen bombarded the town of Sandwich, Canada on July 4,1812. Later in the course of the war, British general Isaac Brock crossed the narrowest part of the Detroit River with his troops and landed on the future Fort Wayne site before marching to Detroit. In the ensuing Siege of Detroit, American general William Hull, the British later abandoned the fort and American troops reoccupied it. Among those present for the signing of the treaty were Lewis Cass, following the end of the war, Fort Shelby fell into disrepair, and in 1826 it was sold to the City of Detroit and demolished. In the late 1830s, small, short-lived rebellions occurred in Canada to protest corruption amongst its colonial government, many Americans believed there was widespread Canadian support for these rebellions and formed volunteer militias to overthrow Canadas colonial government. This led to a series of attacks on Canada known as the Patriot War
