Aerial photographic views of the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shoreline will be useful to people who want to plan land use, find wetlands areas, or even plan a kayaking trip, says a group that will start taking the photos locally this summer and sharing them with the public.

The Superior Watershed Partnership of Marquette, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting rivers and watersheds in the U.P., will be taking high-resolution aerial photos from a small plane of the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, as well Drummond, Mackinac, and Bois Blanc Islands, and making them accessible on a Web site.

Funded by a $36,000 coastal management grant by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE), the initiative is the second phase of a pilot project launched last year when photographs were taken of Lake Superior's entire shoreline from Ironwood to Sault Ste. Marie. The photographs are available on the partnership's Web site, www.superiorwatersheds. org.

“We'll now be able to have the entire U.P. [shore] covered,” said Executive Director Carl Linquist.

Slated to begin this summer and reach completion in early 2011, the project was initially launched as an attempt to better manage the U.P.'s coastal areas, but has now evolved into a tool with a variety of uses, including recreation-based tourism, Mr. Linquist said.

“At first we wanted to offer it to local units of government so that they have information to protect land and see if it's suitable” for projects, he said. “There are a lot of organizations that make decisions without actually seeing the areas.”

The primary goal of the project is to provide easy access to mapping information, said Robert McCann of the DNRE.

“The biggest improvement will be for local land planning, in terms of helping protect land and making those decisions easier,” he said. “You're not paying someone to go up in the air, you're providing a host of services. This will springboard a host of new projects in the future.”

Photographs for the aerial shore viewer will be taken from a plane at oblique angles, which are easier to interpret for non-viewer specialists. The project also uses global positioning system (GPS) technology.

“The flight itself doesn't take long, but we have to work with ideal weather conditions,” Mr. Linquist said. “We use GPS for every photo that correlates with a map.”

The technology used for the shore viewer marries database and land use data, explained Cameron Fuest, a geographical information specialist with the partnership who is coordinating data collection for the project. It uses GPS to link photographs to their exact geographical locations. The data on the Web site is simplified into a format that's easily accessible for users, he said.

The shore viewer is expected to be especially beneficial for local government agencies and planning commissions that don't have a land expert to process land information for projects.

“It might cost as much as $60,000 to hire someone,” he said. “This almost acts as a technology service for local units of government.”

The benefit of the shore viewer, however, isn't confined to government agencies.

“It's available not only for planners, but for individuals,” he said. “Wetland maps are associated with it, and [land developers] can get a look they never had previously. For outdoor enthusiasts, the tool can be used to find the right vacation spot. Kayakers are able to view streams that are flowing into unique and quiet ... spots.”

He continued, “If you think about the state of the economy in Michigan, we're lucky to have all of these natural resources that aren't developed. The land's beautiful and unique. Without projects like this, it's tough to tell what's out there.”