Nature as Commodity.  In the mid to late 1800s, the Great Lakes region was known for its vast wealth of timber resources. At the time, Michigan white pine was an essential commodity both in the development of east coast cities and the populations spreading into the frontier regions of the west. The conceptual transformation of the natural world into commodity pervades the history, rapid growth, and development of the Great Lakes region. The lumber industry that transformed much of the region from dense tracts of forest into cleared agricultural land also enabled the regional population explosion that followed.

In order to get to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore from my home in Milwaukee, I have to go through all of Chicago, with its sprawling suburbs and its densely packed downtown, spiked with skyscrapers, and then across the skyway. The view from the skyway is of a vast apocalyptic landscape seething with active refineries, steel mills, and inactive, abandoned industrial sites. Past the last steel mill I begin to see woodlands and wetlands instead of enormous factory sheds, steel armatures, and tall smokestacks. It is worth the effort.

I've been to the dunes many times, but always to lie on the beach in warm weather. Last weekend could have been more of the same, but it was freezing! So, instead of sticking to the beach I explored one of the inland trails where it was out of the wind and much warmer. And what a lovely discovery! The Cowles Bog trail led me through some swamplands, over oak covered hills, and past glacial kettle ponds.

Last month, Ashoka Changemakers announced the finalists in their Sustainable Urban Housing: Collaborating for Liveable and Inclusive Cities competition. PUSH Buffalo was one of the 11 finalists, and GLUE asked you to vote for their project, as the winners would be decided by online voting. Changemakers announced the winners yesterday, and PUSH Buffalo was one of the three. The winning projects each receive a $10,000 award sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the American Planning Association, and the Department of State, to continue supporting the projects they've developed to help their communities.

While many of our cities are still bemoaning the not-surprising but still disheartening emerging census data showing that our decades-long population loss has continued, a report released a couple of weeks ago that shows that, while yes, the Detroit population overall showed a loss, certain neighborhoods have maintained population--or even grown.

A new Brookings study shows that in a whopping 47 out of 50 states, metropolitan regions contribute the majority of economic activity.

Applications are due on Friday for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation's Market Gardener Program, held in partnership with Ohio State Extension. From YNDC: The Lots of Green Market Gardener Training Program will train interested Youngstown residents in environmental and business aspects of sustainable market gardening. The course will run for 10 weeks, from early March until the beginning of May. Each class will present practical agricultural techniques and small business development topics...

Attendees of our 2010 Urban Labs Conference in Cleveland will be excited to know that the Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act (CRSI) we discussed was passed by Senate committee last week. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-17) introduced the bill in 2009. . .

A new Brookings video-cast with Robert Puentes discusses about the future of high speed rail in the United States. The conversation focuses more on intercity rail than intracity rail, and Puentes talks about the obstacles still in the path for the United States.

Lost in all the news of other elections and other transit-related steps forward, Southeast Michigan voters approved a millage renewal of SMART buses. . .

Via Preservation Research, the U.S. House passed H.R. 3534 (Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010) yesterday. The bill "included the first-ever full annual appropriation of $150 million to the federal Historic Preservation Fund." The HPF matches grants for programs authorized in the 1966 Historic Preservation Act (such as "preservation planning, architectural survey, educational programs and other activities"). . .