The role of local officials' social ties in balancing economic development and resource protection in Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula

Many rural natural resource-dependent regions of the United States have undergone substantial economic, social, and environmental stress over the past century. The Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan is one such region that has historically depended on resource extraction activities, such as timber, as an economic base. As these industries have declined, communities in the area are attempting to fill the economic void by turning to amenity-based opportunities such as snowmobiling, fishing, and casino gaming. Despite the promotion of new economic activities, residents are still struggling with poverty while at the same time experiencing a change in local development patterns. Increasing tourism and seasonal home development are generating concerns about recreational access, aesthetics, water quality, and biodiversity. Two seemingly divergent concepts are used to examine how local officials respond to these issues---social capital and the growth machine. Social capital is a general term that attempts to define the effectiveness of a community in reaching its economic and social development goals through its levels of intercommunication, civic involvement and trust. The growth machine concept also examines the relationships between local officials, business interests, and residents of a community. The emphasis is on local officials and business interests who focus on unlimited economic growth at the expense of residents and their surroundings, making officials unrepresentative of their constituents and their policies socially and environmentally unsustainable.;This study examines how local residents and officials prefer to balance economic development and natural resource protection for the future of the Eastern UP. It also examines the social connections and levels of personal leadership that could influence local officials' preferences for this development. Conjoint analysis, which elicits tradeoffs between preferred development and protection strategies, was used to determine these preferences among 45 residents and 38 local officials. Additionally, qualitative interviews were conducted with those 38 local officials to examine their social connections. These officials also were sent a followup mail questionnaire asking about their perceived levels of influence in their communities.;Results from the conjoint survey show that local officials are no more likely to prefer amenity-based economic growth than residents of the region. Officials are, however, less likely to prefer the status quo for the future, but neither their social connections nor their level of personal influence appear to affect their preferences. Bivariate regression models do indicate that living in the region over 20 years decreases the likelihood of preferring status quo conditions. Overall, however, the results do not find conditions that would indicate a growth machine mentality among local officials. Further examination of qualitative interviews suggest that the limited connections maintained with other officials in the region may hamper future attempts to protect the natural resource base while at the same time improving economic conditions for future generations. Opening these connections would improve local community capacities to deal with the delicate balance of resource protection and economic development.