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<br />00\099 <br /> <br />Draft - 9/81 <br /> <br />and Iron and at the Army depot in Pueblo. Fremont County, how- <br />ever, wiil exhibit an above-average growth trend, largely as a <br />result of uranium mining and the operation of the new state <br />prison facility near Canon City. <br />The net result will be populatIon growth in the region, pri- <br />marily because of the Influence of Colorado Springs. The low <br />projection for the year 2000 involves an absolute population <br />growth of 119,340 which is a percentage change of 22.1 percent. <br />By way of comparison, the low projection for the Platte Region <br />for the same year involves a growth of 8-1/2 times as many people <br />or an annual rate of growth more than 2-1/2 tImes higher. The <br />region's high projection for the year 2000 involves an absolute <br />gain of 293,440 which translates into an average annual increase <br />of 2.59 percent. <br />Rio Grande <br />Compared to the Arkansas Region, the Rio Grande is sparsely <br />populated indeed. None of its six counties had an estimated 1979 <br />population of over 12,000. Much of Its land is wIthIn national <br />forest boundarIes. The total 1979 popuiatIon for the region was <br />estimated at 37,300. <br />The low projection for the region for the year 2000 anticI- <br />pates a population Increase of 13,100 people (35.1 percent) and <br />the high projection, 23,500 people (63.0 percent). The Division <br />of Planning has anticipated no major policy interventions for any <br />of the six counties. ThIs area of Colorado has always been <br />sparsely populated. Its economic base has consisted predomi- <br />nantly of farming and ranching. Hard winters make these enter- <br />prIses difficult. In the last decade areas such as the S~n LuIs <br /> <br />10 <br /> <br />i <br />~ <br />