Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Friday, April 22, 2005
Population boom near for West, experts say
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho -- There's little to stand in the way of the population boom projected for the West during the next 25 years, researchers say.
"We geographers have a long history of thinking very seriously of the ability of environmental limits to put the brakes on human development," says William Travis of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. "I just don't see it. Especially in the West."
Never mind a legacy of hand-wringing over the lack of water beyond the 100th meridian, the longitude that bisects the country, separating the moist Eastern United States from the drier West. Three of the most arid states in the nation -- Arizona, Utah and Nevada -- are forecast by the U.S. Census Bureau to be among the United States' fastest-growing on a percentage basis through 2030.
"You look at annual rainfall, and you ask, 'How can a Phoenix exist?' " says demographer Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech University in Alexandria, Va., and author of "Edgeless Cities."
"But the West has a willingness to talk about sustainability and can adapt," he says.
Warm climates, low housing prices, growing job markets, accelerated immigration, expanded Internet availability, improved transportation and the lure of wide-open scenic vistas are among the major factors demographers say will contribute to the West's sprawling growth.
Six of the 10 states forecast to have the fastest-growing populations on a percentage basis through 2030 are in the West.
Census Bureau projections released Thursday predict that between 2000 and 2030, Nevada's population will grow 114 percent to 4.3 million, Arizona will grow 108 percent to 10.7 million, Utah will grow 56 percent to 3.5 million, Idaho will grow 52 percent to 2 million, Washington will grow 46 percent to 8.6 million and Oregon will grow 41 percent to 4.8 million.
Population boom near for West, experts say
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho -- There's little to stand in the way of the population boom projected for the West during the next 25 years, researchers say.
"We geographers have a long history of thinking very seriously of the ability of environmental limits to put the brakes on human development," says William Travis of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. "I just don't see it. Especially in the West."
Never mind a legacy of hand-wringing over the lack of water beyond the 100th meridian, the longitude that bisects the country, separating the moist Eastern United States from the drier West. Three of the most arid states in the nation -- Arizona, Utah and Nevada -- are forecast by the U.S. Census Bureau to be among the United States' fastest-growing on a percentage basis through 2030.
"You look at annual rainfall, and you ask, 'How can a Phoenix exist?' " says demographer Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech University in Alexandria, Va., and author of "Edgeless Cities."
"But the West has a willingness to talk about sustainability and can adapt," he says.
Warm climates, low housing prices, growing job markets, accelerated immigration, expanded Internet availability, improved transportation and the lure of wide-open scenic vistas are among the major factors demographers say will contribute to the West's sprawling growth.
Six of the 10 states forecast to have the fastest-growing populations on a percentage basis through 2030 are in the West.
Census Bureau projections released Thursday predict that between 2000 and 2030, Nevada's population will grow 114 percent to 4.3 million, Arizona will grow 108 percent to 10.7 million, Utah will grow 56 percent to 3.5 million, Idaho will grow 52 percent to 2 million, Washington will grow 46 percent to 8.6 million and Oregon will grow 41 percent to 4.8 million.
