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<br />001;)95 <br /> <br />Dr aft - 9/ 8 1 <br /> <br />within its borders and increased activity in oil and gas explora- <br /> <br />tion and drilling. Furthermore, as the Denver metropolitan area <br /> <br />continues to become the energy capital of the West and the heart <br /> <br />of Colorado economics, people will be attracted by the jobs which <br /> <br />become available as well as the Colorado climate and lifestyle. <br /> <br />Interestingly, far more jobs would be created in Denver by an <br /> <br />energy boom in the Northwest Region than in the region itself. <br /> <br />The area will become more and more of a wholesale and retail dis- <br /> <br />tribution center for the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states; <br /> <br />additional manufacturing enterprises will be attracted (IBM and <br /> <br />Storage Technology Corporation provide major examples of past <br /> <br />decisions to locate manufacturing in the area). Douglas County <br /> <br />will be heavily affected by the development of the Mission Viejo <br /> <br />project which proposes a resident population of 250,000 people by <br /> <br />I <br />",..,' <br /> <br />the year 2000. In short, all of the indices point towards <br /> <br />massive growth in the Platte Region. <br /> <br />Northern High Plains <br /> <br />None of the counties in the Northern High Plains Region is <br /> <br />particularly populous. Specifically, the July 1979 estimate for <br /> <br />total population in the region is only 24,520, 1.6 percent of the <br /> <br />population estimated for the Platte Region. IBased on 1970 popu- <br /> <br />lation distribution, 80 percent of Cheyenne County is allocated <br /> <br />to the region.) <br /> <br />In fact, the Northern High Plains economy is <br /> <br />based almost entirely on irrigated agriculture which, in turn, is <br /> <br />largely dependent on the mining of deep, nonrenewable ground <br /> <br />water from the Ogallala aquifer. As the water table drops and <br /> <br />the price of energy soars increasing numbers of wells will stand <br /> <br />6 <br />