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<br />recommended programs by region in the areas of environment (Chaptcr IV), cconomic <br />growth and population (Ctwpter V), natllrJI resources (Chapter VI), Jnd sociul concernS <br />(Chapter Vll). Part Three describes regulatory tools (Chapter Vlll), oq;anicationat <br />structur"s (Chapter IX), and short- and long-term strategies (Chapter X) for cJrrying out <br />the Colorado Land Use Program. <br /> <br />THE ISSUES: GROWTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE <br /> <br />, . <br />, . <br /> <br />Something about Colorado attracts people. Until fairly recently, the attraction has <br />probably been the quality of the living environment-the clean air, the abundance of <br />recreational opportunity in the mountains, the open space-more than the promise of <br />high-paying jobs or professionJI opportunity. And people have been attracted, in numbers <br />that have caused Colorado's popuiJtion to double twice between 1900 and 1970. Between <br />1970 and 2000, the population will probably more than double, from 2.2 million to 4.8 <br />million-about 9 times the 1900 population. However, the State's llnparalleled growth .has <br />not been equally shared; about half of Colorado's counties have actually declinedin <br />population in the past decade. <br /> <br />Rapid growth, tho~lgh bringing~enef~t~ to. many p"opfe; now appears to betlmatening <br />those very qualities that attfJcted the growth in the first pIace....Otlr se.nseslell.us llut th;'---. <br />Colorado we once knew is rapidly changing. Denver used to be a campa,.'. attracti\.e city <br />with cle~r air and a magnifi.t view of the Front Range. Now, coming in for a landing <br />at St~pleton.FieJd. we see d<Jwn below a metropolitan area sprawling toward the horizon <br />in all directions-often covered by a blanket of smog obscuring the Front Range. Is this <br />Denver? From 10,000 feet, it could jt\st oS well be Chicago or l.os Angele, or St. Louis. <br />Driving west toward Grand Junction, if we keep our eyes at road level, we may no <br />longer see only evergreen-lined canyon walls sloping down to rushing streams. Instead, <br />wc find in JIlany of the mountain valleys ~ surprising degree of urbanization-gas stations, <br />fast-food restaurants, subdivisions-and even smog. <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />One can still partly escape the evidences of economic growth by traveling to the far <br />reachesofthe State. But even out on tile PJ~ins, where there were once many lively <br />small communities, we find bigger farms with bigg.er tractors and combines, but fewer <br />communities. Thc southern pmt of the State, the old Spanish land grant area which has been <br />and still is a productive crop-growing region, suffers from unemployment. The Northwest, <br />~n area of high plateaus, may soon experience a boom as a result of heightened interest in <br />its oil shale deposits. The.,e changes are symptoms of growth, some good and some bad. <br />But growth in any case. The question is: where does Colorado go from here? <br /> <br />Growth will certainly continue-the State can't post "Keep O.ut" signs at its borders, <br />nor exile the third and subsequcnt children born to resident families. "The right of <br />frec travel. of umestricted coming and going among the sbtcs," as the Task ['orce on land <br />Usc and Urban Growth reminds us, "is considered a fumlamental right protected by the <br /> <br />lX <br /> <br />, . <br /> <br />.1 <br />