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<br />000052 <br /> <br />URBANIZATION OF RURAL LANDS IN THE <br />NORTHERN COLORADO FRONT RANGE, 1955 TO 1983 <br /> <br />Raymond L. Anderson* <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />The Front Range region of Colorado has been a rapid growth area for more <br /> <br />than a quarter of a century, This study is concerned with the urbanization of <br /> <br />rural lands in the northern Front Range counties of Boulder, Larimer, and Weld <br /> <br />counties. These counties, extending northward from the Denver-metro fringe, <br /> <br />are influenced by the Denver growth, but they have generated considerable <br /> <br />growth on their own. <br /> <br />As a result of rapid population growth during the 19&Os, 70s and 80s, in- <br /> <br />creasing amounts of rural lands in these counties have been converted to urban <br /> <br />uses. Growth started slowly in the 1950s, concentrating mostly in Boulder <br /> <br />County. In 19&9, populations in Boulder and Larimer counties were more than <br /> <br />200 percent of their 1950 populations, and by 1982 Boulder County population <br /> <br />was 421 percent of 1950, Larimer County population was up 354 percent, while <br /> <br />Weld County population grew 187 percent, Table 1 shows the population trends <br /> <br />of the three counties from 1949 through 1982, <br /> <br />Along with population changes, significant land U6e changes have been oc- <br /> <br />curring. In an earlier study of urbanization in this region, aerial photos were <br /> <br />used to track changes in land use, These photos covered the period from 1955 to <br /> <br />1969, During this period, about 14,800 acres were converted to urban uses in the <br /> <br />three counties. About 46 percent of the urbanization took place on irrigated <br /> <br />cropland, In Larimer and Weld counties up to 72 percent of the land converted <br /> <br />had been irrigated cropland (see table 2), During this period, about 70 percent <br /> <br />of the land where change occurred went into residential uses (table 3). <br /> <br />*Dr. Anderson is Resource Economist with Natural Resource Economics Division, <br />ERS, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Professor Affiliate, Department of <br />Agricultural and Natural Resource Economic6, Colorado State University, <br />