[pct-l] Mysterious Great Plains

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Plains Crossing Trail? :-)

On a serious note, some areas in the part of the
country known as the "Great Plains" is starting to
become, from a govt definition in terms of 
population, a wildnerenss again. Less people are
needed for agriculture, young people are moving away
and most of the big growth states are what are
normally considered "rural" and/or  "remote" (Texas
and Florida are the exceptions, but only in part.)
>From the 2000 census, the states that saw the most
growth between 1990 and 2000:

1.      Nevada  	66.27%
2. 	Arizona 	39.98%
3. 	Colorado 	30.56%
4. 	Utah 	        29.62%
5. 	Idaho 	        28.53%
6. 	Georgia 	26.37%
7. 	Florida 	23.53%
8. 	Texas 	        22.76%
9. 	North Carolina 	21.43%
10. 	Washington 	21.11%
11. 	Oregon 	        20.37%
12. 	New Mexico      20.06%

It is only until you get to #13 (Delaware) where you
hit a traditional densley populated state.

The Plains are becoming less and less populated and
are indeed becoming mysterious due to lack of people
AND lack of exploration. The new frontier may be the
old frontier of the 1800's. :) The plains metro areas
are seeing growth, but it is mainly internal migration
from other counties in the area.

My current home has areas that are much harder to
reach and explore than say something in the middle of
Kansas. But, I am willing to bet more people know of a
remote valley in the San Juans (SW Colorado) than then
say a wide, empty area in Kansas.

More on the Plains decreasing population:
http://www.umanitoba.ca/afs/agric_economics/ardi/northernusgp.html
gppop.dsu.nodak.edu/pdf/kotkin.pdf

Has a great section on the Great Plains as
"wilderness":
AN EMPIRE WILDERNESS by Robert D. Kaplan

Cool site on census data:
http://www.censusscope.org/

My OT post of the day..enjoy. :-)





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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com