Wyoming is fundamentally changing due to rural housing development, Governor says

CASPER, Wyo. – Wyoming is fundamentally changing as a result of increasing rural housing development, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said on Jan. 10, 2008 at the start of the “Building the Wyoming We Want” Conference.

Yet rural housing development, which makes up more than half of the population growth in Wyoming, is not held to the same standard as other types of development when it comes to impacts on wildlife habitat, water systems, open space and local governments, Freudenthal said in his keynote address to the conference that drew nearly 500 people to Casper College’s Krampert Theater.

“The state has changed in both its treatment of land and its treatment of how we are developing that land,” Freudenthal said. “Some of that is related to mineral growth, and some of it is simply related to the fact that the Western United States is going to be the fastest growing region in the United States – probably until 2030. In 2030, I’ll be 80 years old. And if in 2030, generic name :

The governor said he feels strongly about Wyoming’s citizens having a say in the state’s future growth, and said he does not expect specific legislation to come out of this meeting.

“I was asked in one of the press conferences if we have sort of a legislative package – we don’t,” Freudenthal said. “What I do have is a firm conviction that this time around, talking about growth in this state has to start here, and not in Cheyenne. And by ‘here’ I mean in the communities around the state.”

Joining Freudenthal in opening the conference was U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, who said growth will mean big changes for the state, but with that growth comes important choices.

“If we don’t make these choices ourselves, Washington will force one of its ‘one size fits all’ solutions on us,” Barrasso said.

Many other states are also struggling to plan for development, make use of scarce water resources and prepare for growing populations with the appropriate infrastructure, Glendening said

Much of Wyoming’s growth is occurring in rural areas, Freudenthal said, instead of in and around Wyoming’s cities.

“What strikes me as interesting, particularly when it comes to growth, is that more than half of the growth in the past six and a half years has all been rural. And it focused on five to seven counties with what you would expect as impacts on finances and impacts on habitat,” he said.

Some of this development has the effect of off-loading costs onto the public and the environment, Freudenthal said.

“We have had a contradiction – we want growth on our terms when we’re talking about what the mineral industry is doing,” he said. “We have higher standards for the operation of the mineral industry in this state than we do for the individual or the developer who chooses to develop the land.”

Freudenthal said second homes and “ranchettes” are a relatively new concept in Wyoming, where people used to live where they worked.

“This notion of 40-acre ranchettes and places out in the hinterlands – this was not part of this state when I graduated from high school and went to college. It was simply not how it was – if you lived in the country, you lived in the country because that’s how you made your living. “When you think about the changes that have occurred over that time period, we’ve now gone to being a state where less than half of the people who live here were actually born here. In fact, there are only seven states in the United States that have fewer natives than Wyoming.”

During the first day of the conference, Mike Purcell, director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, spoke about trends in Wyoming water development as they relate to growth in the state. Bob Budd, director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, addressed the pressures that wildlife face as how to buy sildenafil fluoxetine online tablets cod accepted new where to get sildenafil fluoxetine online coupon without prescription mexico the state grows and the role of the trust in preserving habitat.

Nationally-recognized speakers from outside the state also addressed the conference today to help give context to Wyoming’s specific challenges. Among them was Luther Propst of the Sonoran Institute who spoke on the implications of growth trends in the West. Ellen Hanak of the Public Policy Institute of California spoke on water decisions and trends. Terry Moore of ECONorthwest addressed the fiscal implications of sprawl.

Those unable to attend the conference can listen to live streaming audio at: www.caspercollege.edu/events. Those interested in listening to the conference can also navigate to the audio stream from the Governor’s Office Web site: http://governor.wy.gov. Click on the red link on the bottom left, “Building the Wyoming We Want Conference.”

Audio and video of the entire conference will be available soon after the event at: www.buildingwyoming.com. The site will also include links to resources and materials related to the topics of discussion at the conference.