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Land-use change, economics, and rural well-being in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States

Fact Sheet 2013-3046
Prepared in cooperation with the Plains & Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation Cooperative
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20133046

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Abstract

This fact sheet highlights findings included in a comprehensive new report (see USGS Professional Paper 1800) which investigated land-use change, economic characteristics, and rural community well-being in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States. Once one of the largest grassland-wetlands ecosystems on earth, the North American prairie has experienced extensive conversion to cultivated agriculture, with farming becoming the dominant land use in the region over the last century. Both perennial habitat lands and agricultural croplands retain importance economically, socially, and culturally. Greatly increased oil and gas development in recent years brought rises in employment and income but also stressed infrastructure, cost of living, and crime rates. Research described in these reports focuses on land-use dynamics and illuminates how economic variables and rural development in the Prairie Pothole Region might be influenced as land uses change.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Land-use change, economics, and rural well-being in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2013-3046
DOI 10.3133/fs20133046
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Fort Collins Science Center
Description 6 p.
Country Canada;United States
State Iowa;Nebraska;Minnesota;Montana;North Dakota;South Dakota;Wyoming
Other Geospatial Prairie Pothole Region
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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