FLOOD01223

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: South Platte
• Title: Upper Platte River Basin Study 1979-83
• Date: 1/1/1979
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

increasing focus on energy development, especially in the Rocky Mountain
States, it is likely that the Denver and Casper areas will continue to
receive attent i on as energy centers, and also cont i nue to experi ence
population growth.

Another point of interest is the reversal of the trend of decl ining
popul ation 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.
Mi ning, trade, agriculture, manufacturing, Government, servi ces, 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
Wyomi ng and Colorado sub areas and throughout the Nebraska sub area.
Table 2 presents employment and earnings figures for 1978 for these
sectors.

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-
mate ly $357 mi 11 i on. The Colorado and Wyomi ng counti es in the bas i n
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 portion of the total value of
agriculture throughout the study area. The total value of 1 ivestock
and 1 ivestock 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 metropolitan area. In many other portions of

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