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<br />OU0054 <br /> <br />-5- <br /> <br />Examination of population density on newly converted urbanized lands <br /> <br />showed that density increased markedly during the decade of the 1960s com- <br /> <br />pared to the 1950s (see table 4), During the 1950s, as urbanization was <br /> <br />getting under way, the land use change per capita increase was the largest <br /> <br />in the sparsely populated areas (Weld County) and lowest where population <br /> <br />was the highest (Boulder County). In the 1950s in Weld County, .44 acre of <br /> <br />farmland was converted per capita increase; in Larimer County, .31 acre; <br /> <br />and in Boulder County, .17 acre. During the 1960s all counties converged <br /> <br />to a more intensive conversion rate, .10 to .ll acre per capita increase in <br /> <br />all three counties. This indicates that land actually converted to urban~es <br /> <br />was being used more intensively. Studies by Dill and Otte of Economic Re- <br /> <br />search Service, USDA, show land use changes in other areas of growing popula- <br /> <br />tion averaged around .22 acre per capita in SMSAs of the northeastern United <br /> <br />States while non-SMSA counties8Weraged .44 acre per capita increase.!/ In <br /> <br />western areas of the United States, the density shown in one study was <br /> <br />about .128 acre per capita increase in the non-SMSA counties. 1/ In single <br /> <br />county SMSAs 1/ land was being urbanized at the rate of .10 acre per capita <br /> <br />growth; multicounty SMSAs were urbanizing at a rate of only .052 acre per <br /> <br />capita increase. By comparison, the northern Front Range area was typical <br /> <br />of other western growth areas in land conversion rates. <br /> <br />Changes in federal agricultural programs suspended air photography by <br /> <br />the USDA for a number of years, and recent air photos covering the region <br /> <br />have not been available. Thus we have not been able to update the land <br /> <br />1/ H.W. Dill, Jr. and Otte, R.E., Urbanization of Land in Northeastern United <br />States, ERS-185, Economic Research Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washing- <br />ton, D.C" August 1971, pp. 6-7, <br />1/ H.W. Dill, Jr. and Otte, R.E., Urbanization of Land in the !'estern States, <br />ERS-428, Economic Research Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., <br />January 1970, p. 7. <br />1/ SMSA = Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area as used by Bureau of Census. <br />