Buffalo Commons
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The Buffalo Commons is a conceptual proposal to restore large parts of the drier portion of the Great Plains to native prairie, the shortgrass prairie grazed by buffalo. The proposal originated with Drs. Frank and Deborah Popper, who argued in a 1987 essay that the current use of the drier parts of the plains is not sustainable. Most seriously debated in the 1990s, the idea has been hugely unpopular in the affected states, and has little chance of implementation on a large scale.
The Poppers claim of unsustainability is indicated by, among other things, periodic disasters such as the Dust Bowl and continuing significant population loss over the last 80 years. They point out that the rural Plains has lost a third of its population since 1920. Several hundred thousand square miles of the Great Plains have less than 6 persons per square mile - the density standard Frederick Jackson Turner used in his Frontier Thesis to declare the American Frontier "closed" in 1893. Large areas have less than 2 persons per square mile. They showed that the number of "frontier counties" increased by 14 between 1980 and 2000, and pointed out that there are more than 6,000 ghost towns in the State of Kansas alone (according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald). They claim that the decline is accelerating.
The Poppers propose that a significant portion of the region be "deprivatized", and envision an area of native grassland perhaps 10 or 20 million acres (40,000 or 80,000 km²) in size. One way to achieve this would be through voluntary contracts between the Forest Service and Plains farmers and ranchers, paying them the value of what they would have cultivated over the next 15 years but requiring them instead to plant and reestablish native shortgrasses according to a Forest Service-approved program. At the end of the period, the Forest Service would purchase their holdings except for a 40-acre homestead.
The proposal has attracted some public attention, and has met with intense criticism from most Plains residents. Its proponents answer that the criticism is based on a misunderstanding that the plan would be coercive rather than voluntary, and hold that something like the proposal is likely to happen with or without government involvement. The Poppers draw parallels with Northern New England's agricultural depopulation following the opening of transportation with the West in the 1830's, which led to the return of forests.
North Dakota's 2000 economic roadmap noted the idea was "vilified" but suggested the idea could translate into tourism dollars. This was just one among many economic development avenues suggested in the report.
[edit] External links
- "The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust", original article on the proposal from Planning magazine.
- "Plains sense", article from High Country News on the recent history of the proposal
- "Land Use Ideas Resurface", article on Buffalo Commons idea gaining more traction in Kansas
- Anne Matthews, Where the Buffalo Roam, publishers notes on a book (1993 Pulitzer finalist in nonfiction) on the Buffalo Commons proposal.
