Plains grow more lonesome
Posted on Tuesday, April 04 @ 16:53:00 EDT by Love |
|
Anonymous writes "Article Launched: 03/16/2006 1:00 AM MST
denver & the west
Plains grow more lonesome
By Robert Sanchez,
Denver Post Staff Writer
Denis Weber strolls past a vacant house Wednesday in Sheridan Lake in Kiowa County - a town without a gas station, restaurant or grocery store. Kiowa and Cheyenne counties suffered double-digit percentage population declines in the past five years. There's fear in Sheridan Lake that the post office could close as well. "That would just kill us," Weber said. (Post / Karl Gehring)
Population on Colorado's long-suffering Eastern Plains slipped further over a five-year span beginning in 2000, even as new U.S. census estimates showed that the state overall enjoyed robust growth during the same period.
Hardest hit were Cheyenne and Kiowa counties on the Kansas border, which lost more than one-tenth of their populations and now are among the top 25 counties nationwide for population decline.
Other Colorado counties on the plains fared little better, with communities from the northeast and southeast losing anywhere between 0.5 percent to 9.9 percent of their population from 2000 to 2005, according to census data being released today.
The declines could get worse before they get better, demographic and agriculture experts said.
Eastern Plains communities could lose another third of their population before even the slightest rebound occurs, said Don Macke, co-director of the National Center for Rural Entrepreneurship.
"Eventually, things will begin to stabilize, but when that will happen is anyone's guess," he said. Still, even with the consistent decrease, the communities "won't decline to nothing."
The reason for the dramatic population decreases in Colorado's agriculture-based counties - some have dropped nearly 20 percent since 1990 - is a perfect storm of minimal economic development coupled with drought and stagnant crop prices.
Where farmers once were able to support families on 500 acres, it now takes 5,000 acres or more simply to break even.
"We have to have two other jobs just to make it work here," said Jan Hogan, a hair salon owner in Kit Carson.
Hogan's husband teaches high school science to support the family's cattle ranch in Cheyenne County. "We don't have young people staying here or coming into town because we don't have much to offer them," Hogan said.
Two of her children left Kit Carson and live in Denver and Pueblo. "They have opportunities there," she said.
Continue here..
Though sharp population declines
Sheridan Lake Mayor Jerry Weber and his son Quinton face into the wind on a walk through town. The Kiowa County community boasts only about 60 people now and recently lost an auto parts store. Kiowa and other once-thriving farm counties on the Eastern Plains could lose another third of their population before a rebound, says one rural entrepreneurship expert. (Post / Karl Gehring)
hit most plains counties across the plains and pockets of southern Colorado, the state saw 8.4 percent overall growth over the same five-year period.
Douglas County, long among the nation's fastest-growing places, topped the state list at 41.9 percent, followed by Weld County's 26.6 percent growth.
Population in those counties, the estimate shows, increased by a combined 121,000 people.
"It's not a surprise," said Elizabeth Garner, the state's demographer.
And neither is the Eastern Plains' drop, which has virtually mirrored declines in other agriculture-based communities nationwide over the years.
Across rural America, 698 counties have lost more than 10 percent of their population since 1980, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The results in Colorado have been devastating.
The state lost nearly 1.2 million acres of farmland between 1997 and 2002, and farm water sales have only increased the slide, according to the Agriculture Department.
Manufacturing businesses have closed, farms have consolidated and people have left for the Front Range or cities in other states.
When vacant homes sit too long, neighboring farmers dig a pit, bulldoze the building and bury the remains.
"My son just did it three weeks ago with a mobile home," said said Denis Weber, 72, whose family settled in Kiowa County in 1918. Only one of his seven children, Sheridan Lake's mayor, remains in town.
In Sheridan Lake, a town without a gas station, restaurant or grocery store, the school district has been on the brink of closure, relying in part on free-rent offers to families with children to maintain enrollment.
There is fear that the post office could close.
"That would just kill us," Weber said. "There's always talk about how we can turn this around, but nobody seems to have the right answer."
In neighboring Cheyenne County, there were discussions about bringing in an ethanol plant, of starting a wind farm or creating a corporate call center. None of the proposals has taken shape so far.
Amid declines in 4-H membership - a sign that children aren't as interested in agriculture - and worries that the region's hospital could eventually shut down, residents are battling a malaise that they worry could settle over the plains.
They are trying to promote the region as a good place to retire or to open Internet-based businesses. Cheyenne County is planning a bull-riding event at the county fair.
"We want to bring people in and create some excitement and talk about what we have to offer," said Marcy Brossman, Cheyenne County's administrator.
But, she said, "we've turned into gas-station communities where people stop on their way to other places," she said. "It's a hard situation."
Driving along wide-open roads that shoot past now- parched farmland, Weber, the Kiowa County native, fears that he will lose the only place on Earth he calls "heaven."
The roads once evoked memories of happier times, when ranches and farms dotted then- thriving fields.
Now, he's unsure what will happen.
"This, to me, is still a beautiful place, and you wouldn't believe how thoughtful the people are who live here," Weber said.
Still, "it's not looking real good for us."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3606445
"
|
| |
|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like theme manager, comments configuration and post comments with your name.
|
|
