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increasing focus on energy development, especially in the Rocky Mountain States, it is likely that the Denver and Casper areas will continue to receive attention as energy centers, and also continue to experience population growth. Another point of interest is the reversal of the trend of declining population in the more agriculturally dominated rural areas of the Upper Platte River Basin over the past decade. For example, the Nebraska subarea shows an annual growth rate of 0.79 between 1970-1978 as compared to 0.41 between 1930-1978. Much of this can be attributed to increased location of small manufacturing firms such as electronics and food processing. This stabilization of the nonurban population and the strong growth in the major urban areas present a formidable goal for providing a dependable municipal, domestic, and industrial water supply. The projected continuing increase in population, will continue to challenge efforts to provide dependable future water supplies. Economic Sectors The industrial resource base for the study area is well diversified. Mining, trade, agriculture, manufacturing, Government, services, and tourism all make major contributions to the Upper Platte River Basin's economy. Mining, manufacturing, and recreation are concentrated along the Front Range of the Rockies, Government and services in the metropol- itan centers, and agricultural activities in the eastern portions of the Wyoming and Colorado subareas and throughout the Nebraska subarea. Tab 1 e 2 present s employment and earn i ngs fi gures for 1978 for these sec tors. The agricultural lands located in the Upper Platte River Basin are some of the most productive in the nation. The value of crops produced in 1978 for the 18 Nebraska counties situated in the basin was approxi- mately $357 million. The Colorado and Wyoming counties in the basin had a 1978 market value of crops of $260 million and $27 million, respectively. Major crops produced in the basin include wheat, corn, hay, dry edible beans, and sugar beets. The 1977-1979 average amount of harvested irrigated acreage for the 43 counties of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming situated mainly in the Upper Platte River Basin is approximately 2.8 million acres. Livestock production represents a major port ion of the total value of agriculture throughout the study area. The total value of 1 ivestock and livestock products in the study area in 1978 was approximately $2.2 billion. Cattle and calves were the predominant livestock enter- prise in all three subareas. Much of the basin's crop and livestock production is exported from the basin to locations throughout the nation. Manufacturing is another important component of the economic picture in the Upper Platte River Basin. In 1978, manufacturing employed approximately 13 percent of the study area's labor force and generated 17 percent of the total earnings. Most of the manufacturing activity is centered in the Denver metropo 1 i tan area. In many other port ions of 8