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<br />OD11.J2 <br /> <br />Draft - 9/81 <br /> <br />(5.38 percent annually). Indications are, and the staff of the <br /> <br /> <br />DivIsIon of Planning agrees, that actual growth will probably <br /> <br /> <br />tend toward the hIgh projections. <br /> <br /> <br />Nort hwest <br /> <br />The three counties which .comprise the Northwest Region (Rio <br />Blanco, Moffat and Routt) are extremely important to Colorado's <br />future. Of the eight regions considered in this analysis, only <br />the Northern High Plains has a lower estimated 1979 population <br />than the Northwest Region. Yet because of its rich resources of <br />coal and oil shale, this region is predIcted to experience mas- <br />sive development and the highest population growth rates in the <br />state in the next twenty years. This development is likely to <br />provide the driving force behind much of the energy-related <br />. r growth in the Denver area. In addition to energy development, <br />"l'!!I'" <br />Routt County is likely to see an expansion of the ski and summer <br />resort industries. <br /> <br />Any expansion in the Northwest Region will add population to <br />what is now a relatively sparsely populated area. By all sce- <br />narios population growth will be substantial. The 1979 estimated <br />population for the region was only 30,400 people. Even the low <br />projection for the year 1990 estimates a growth rate of 58.6 per- <br />cent to 48,200. The low projection for the year 2000, similarly, <br />predicts that the population in the region will more than double <br />to a total of 63,000, an average annual growth rate of 5.1 per- <br />cent. The high projection for the year 2000 is even more over- <br />whelming: an average annual growth rate of 8.68 percent leading <br /> <br />13 <br />