Document: AND-3-9-4

Land use in the New West: Ecological and socioeconomic causes and consequences

HANSEN, A.J.* ¹ and R.KNIGHT ²

Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 USA ¹
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA ²

Abstract:
Long considered the "Wild West", the "New West" is the fastest growing region of the U.S., with dramatic shifts in land use from resource extraction to exurban development. In protected areas, these demographic changes are expressed in rapid growth of recreation. This talk will explore the causes of these changes and the consequences for ecosystem and community sustainability, with case studies in Colorado and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The resident population of the Colorado Plateau doubled between 1960 and 1990 and loss of ranch land in Colorado is now 100,000 ha/yr, primarily to urban and exurban development. The ecological influence of rural development here is disproportionate to its area because the sinuous pattern of private lands fragments of public lands. Backcountry recreation further impacts native species, with off-trail hikers displacing ungulates more than 100 m. Both ecological and socioeconomic factors likely contribute to these demographic and land use trends. In the GYE, forest area, lake area, nature reserves area, producer services, and education level together explained 71% of the variation in population change during 1970-1995. Exurban development in the GYE is disproportionately focused on equitable biophysical settings that are "hot spots" for native species. The challenge in the New West is to manage land use to sustain the ecosystem qualities that are attracting newcomers and stimulating economic expansion.

Keywords: land use, new west, socioeconomics

This abstract is being presented at: 10:45 AM in session:
Symposium # 2: Stressors in Western Mountain Ecosystems: Detecting Change and Its Consequences.