Wyoming is the nation's least-populated state,
but second homes occupy much of its open space

By Diana Hulme and Harold Bergman
for Headwaters News

Most of us have heard by now that the Rocky Mountain West has been the fastest-growing region in the country over the past few years. And by now most of us have witnessed the explosive growth and loss of open spaces along Colorado's Front Range, Utah's Wasatch Front, or around the growing Boise metropolis. But what about population growth and the attendant loss of open spaces in places like Wyoming?

One might ask, "What is there to worry about? Wyoming is synonymous with open spaces." With fewer than 500,000 people, Wyoming continues to be dead last in population in the United States. With development generally precluded from almost half of Wyoming's land area because it is owned and managed by the federal government, vast areas of scenic open space seem to be secure. Of the remaining privately held land in Wyoming, a little more than 90 percent is used for agriculture, an enterprise that by its nature provides open space, scenic views, wildlife habitat and preservation of our ranching culture.

Several counties in western Wyoming grew as much during the 1990s as some of the fastest-growing states in the country.

But things change. Rural residential sprawl has become a hot issue up and down the Rocky Mountains from Montana to New Mexico, and Wyoming is no exception. Because of growing concern expressed by Wyoming's citizens and leaders, the Institute of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming was asked several years ago to begin investigating the complex of issues brought to mind by the catch phrases "rural sprawl," "loss of open space" and "agriculture to residential land conversion."

Are these things really happening in Wyoming? And, if so, where and why?

To answer these kinds of questions, a team of faculty, staff and students, led by Professors Tex Taylor and Roger Coupal in the UW College of Agriculture, have been busy compiling and analyzing data from the recent census and from sources around Wyoming. What they have discovered so far is certainly interesting. For instance:

• Although Wyoming's population grew a modest 8.9 percent from 1990 to 2000 (ranking 32nd among the 50 states and well behind Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana), more than half of Wyoming's growth was in rural areas outside incorporated towns and cities.
  
  
• Several counties in western Wyoming grew as much during the 1990s as some of the fastest-growing states in the country. With a 63 percent growth rate, Teton County, Wyo., is comparable to Nevada, the nation's fastest-growing state at 66.3 percent. Sublette County, Wyo., grew by 22.2 percent, similar to Idaho's growth rate of 28.5 percent. Additionally, three-quarters of Sublette County's growth was in rural (unincorporated) areas. Lincoln County, Wyo., grew by 15.4 percent, but the northern part of the county grew 45.6 percent, which is comparable to Arizona, the second fastest-growing state in the nation at 40 percent. Again, more than three-quarters of the growth in Lincoln County, Wyo., occurred in rural areas.
  
  
• Population increase and redistribution patterns in most Wyoming counties during the 1990s indicate a marked increase in rural populations living outside of incorporated towns and cities. In some counties (Sublette, Lincoln, Crook and Fremont) almost all population growth was in rural areas. Only two of Wyoming's 24 counties (Goshen and Niobrara) decreased in rural population. And even among the four counties that lost total population, three (Washakie, Sweetwater, and Carbon) increased in their rural populations.
  
  
• Rural growth in the West often involves the conversion of a working farm or ranch to a residential subdivision. In Wyoming, many rural subdivisions are developed into parcels of 35 acres or greater because of a provision in our state subdivision laws. The result is low-density developments on large tracts, often resulting in the loss of farm or ranch land, and the open space, scenic vistas, wildlife habitat and rural culture that the farm and ranch land provide.
  
  
• Many of these rural residences are second homes. In fact, the number of second homes in Wyoming increased by 30 percent, or almost twice the national average, for the census period of 1990-2000. The census does not count second-home owners as part of a community's population, thus the impacts of second homes are not readily apparent from changes in population. Yet, second homes can have an impact on local government finances because rural residential developments tend to demand more public services than they contribute in tax revenue.
  
  
• Private lands in Wyoming provide about 50 percent of the critical winter range and many important migration corridors used by mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope and elk. Maintenance of viable herd populations for these big-game species is strongly linked to the availability of winter range and the ability to migrate between summer and winter ranges. Consequently, conversion of large blocks of private ranch and farm land to residential subdivisions can adversely affect some of Wyoming's big game herds.

These are just some of the growth issues facing Wyoming. The fact is, growth is inevitable and can be a benefit to the state's economy. The problem isn't necessarily the conversion of agricultural land to residential use, but the location and type of some of the lands that are developed can have impacts on the environment, wildlife and Wyoming's cultural heritage.

Unplanned growth can detract from the very amenities that residents of the state are here to enjoy. A recent study released by the American Farmland Trust, estimates that more than 24 million acres of western ranchland will be replaced by housing developments by the year 2020. Their study reports that Wyoming has 2.6 million acres listed as vulnerable ranchlands, much of that located in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

(For more details on the report, see their Web site at http://www.farmland.org/)

Based on some of the information presented in this article, the answer to the question, "Are Wyoming's wide open spaces being threatened by rural sprawl?" might seem like an unequivocal "Yes." However, it is never too late to act, and with cooperation among state and local leaders, and the public, we can shape Wyoming's impending growth and still preserve the qualities that make Wyoming the unique state that it is.

• For more information about the Institute of Environment and Natural Resources or its work on open-space issues, see its Web sites at http://www.uwyo.edu/enr and http://www.uwyo.edu/openspaces.
  
  
• "Population Change in Wyoming, 1990-2000" and "Second Home Growth in Wyoming, 1990-2000" summarized in this article can be downloaded from the institute's open spaces Web site or ordered by contacting the institute at:
  Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3971, Laramie, WY 82071; phone: (307)766-5080; fax: (307)766-5099; e-mail ienr@uwyo.edu.

Have an opinion? Join the discussion in this week's forum.

Or click here to view all our forums.

click here for a printer-friendly version of this column

| |

Answers to sprawl include easements, zoning, taxes

By Greg Lakes, editor
Headwaters News
Aug. 7, 2002

There's no shortage of examples of suburban sprawl in the Rockies, but there's a fairly narrow range of options to maintain a little green as communities grow outward: conservation easements, open-space taxes, and strict zoning and density regulations.

In Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, conservation easements are the choice on an unprecedented scale. A half-dozen ranchers have agreed to cede their development rights to three conservation organizations in an orchestrated move that will keep houses off a swath of green half the size of Manhattan.

That will mean no condos, no trophy homes and no golf courses on 11,000 acres of prime valley land in an area that's expected to sprout 4,100 new homes by 2025, doubling the local population. The agreements are heralded as the start of a new era of cooperation between ranchers and environmentalists to preserve open space and ranchers' lifestyles.

Advocates note similar agreements in Montana, where ranchers zoned their own land to limit houses to one every 640 acres, and near Steamboat Springs, Colo., where a coalition has protected 16,000 acres of ranchland from development.

The ranchers give up what could be lucrative development rights. But if they don't, they and their families aren't likely to remain long on the land. The average cattle rancher is 70 years old, and ranching is not an affordable choice for most heirs without significant tax breaks.

Estimates say that throughout the West, as much as 75 percent of all ranches will change hands, with an unknown proportion lost to traditional uses.

What fuels that kind of growth? In the relatively remote southern end of the Selkirk Range in northern Idaho and southern British Columbia, far from industry, transportation and most other ingredients of a thriving economy, the answer has three parts, according to a Montana economics professor's study.

The robust economy of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Nelson, B.C., is due to more tourism and recreation jobs, more retirees and more telecommuting, the study said. Thomas Power, chairman of the University of Montana Economics Department, said losing jobs and revenue from traditional timber and mining industries hasn't sent the area's economy into a tailspin. Population on the U.S. side grew 34 percent in the 1990s, and 21 percent on the B.C. side.

A fair share of the region's sprawl is attributed to people with more money than is strictly seemly. Metro Phoenix is pushed outward in part by demand for elaborate second homes. Analysts estimate that about one-fourth of the valley's 110,000 new and used home sales are to people who aren't primary residents.

That's contrary to the national trend, in which 1999's record number of second-home sales slipped by 4 percent in 2000.

In the words of the Arizona Republic: "Metro Phoenix has become a mecca for second-home buyers, who spend the winter months at their golf retreats in north Scottsdale, mansions in Paradise Valley or retirement communities in the West and East Valley, and then head to cooler climes during the summer."

And in the words of one Phoenix real estate analyst: "The Valley's still an affordable place for second homes. A million-dollar house here would be at least twice that much in California."

Arizona is sixth in the nation for its proportion of vacation homes, and Scottsdale is the state's most popular second-home venue.

In north Idaho, the Rathdrum Prairie between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane is one the fastest-growing areas in the region, and it may be the spot where city-bred techniques are adapted to the country.

Kootenai County officials are mulling a tax to buy farm and ranch land to preserve open space. It would be a new approach for a relatively rural area, although last year, Boise voters passed a $10 million levy to buy land in the Boise foothills.

Missoula voters passed a $5 million bond levy in 1995 to buy 1,500 acres on Mount Jumbo, a visual cornerstone of the community. And since 1993, a Spokane County property tax -- 6 cents per $1,000 in assessed value -- has raised more than $6 million to buy wildlife habitat and other sensitive lands.

In Portland last May, voters for the fourth time rejected developers attempts to loosen limits on a regional board's authority to wield state law to control housing density, essentially an attack on the limits that have made the city a national poster child for growth management.

The vote was 57 percent against the initiative and 43 percent in favor.

Oregon law requires cities and towns of a certain size to draw a boundary around their urban areas, keeping forests, farmlands and open space free of development. Portland is the shining example, a city with a mass transit system, compact neighborhoods, and protected forests and farms outside the city limits.

But critics -- builders, property rights advocates and some environmentalists -- have complained that the restrictions packs houses too tightly into the urban boundaries and drives up prices by limiting supply in the face of growing demand.

| |

Headwaters News is a project of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.