Subscribe to this blog 
The “Buffalo Commons” Revisited
June 24th, 2009 by Nicole Lauck
The Buffalo Commons, a 1987 article by Frank and Deborah Popper, is a proposal to abandon the Great Plains and return the area to native short-grass prairie. As you might have guessed, the Poppers’ idea has been less than welcomed by residents of the Great Plains. Their idea has recently been challenged by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) study that suggests young people and families are returning to the plains.
UNL undertook their study ( “Today’s Buffalo Commons - Not what you might expect” ) to explain the unexpected population increase in the Nebraskan panhandle. They found that the area had an encouraging influx of new, young inhabitants.
How can we bring this encouragement to other areas? The study not only points out facts, but brings hope to rural areas. There can be in-migration. People will come. However, it is going to take some active recruiting and providing ongoing support for new families once they arrive.
Whatever a community’s views and actions toward newcomers may be, towns need to realize that they need people. Accepting and welcoming new, young people will bring life and vitality to a community. A new generation will thrive in rural areas; they are looking for places to raise families (which is good news for rural schools too).
Small towns can get the entire community involved in the recruitment process. Tell young friends and family all the great things that are going on in your small town. Yes, young people need jobs, but they are looking for a “community” to call home - not just a workplace.
If we were to do a similar study, what would we find about your community? It’s time to tell the Poppers and ourselves that people are coming here to live. Rural life on the plains is flourishing; we just need to think about attracting people in new ways.
Other resources
- “Today’s Buffalo Commons — Not what you might expect” website at Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI), University of Nebraska
- “Engaging your Community to Attract and Retain New Residents” a presentation by the CARI team at the NACDEP Conference
- “Plains Sense: Frank and Deborah Popper’s ‘Buffalo Commons’ is creeping toward reality” at High County News
Tags: Buffalo Commons, Nebraska, people attraction strategy, university of nebraska
Posted in Community Development, In the News, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (
2 )
June 25th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Anyone interested in more information about the Buffalo Commons should go to my Rutgers website, policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/popper. The University of Nebraska study mentioned in this blog in no way refutes the Buffalo Commons idea. It just suggests new ways it might happen or parallel possibilities consistent with it, which the blogger here may at bottom be looking for too.
The Buffalo Commons idea originated with me and my wife Deborah Popper, a geographer at the College of Staten Island/City University of New York and Princeton University. The only national group explicitly devoted to creating it is the Great Plains Restoration Council, with headquarters in Fort Worth and other operations in Colorado and South Dakota. (Full disclosure: I chair its board.) The group’s website is gprc.org, and its executive director is Jarid Manos, greatplains@gprc.org. Readers might also be interested in the National Center for Frontier Communities in Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, whose executive director is Carol Miller, carol@frontierus.org. (Second disclosure: Deborah and I are on its board.)
Frank Popper
Rutgers and Princeton Universities
fpopper@rci.rutgers.edu, fpopper@princeton.edu
732-932-4009, X689
June 25th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for your comments and the great resources! I have read your Buffalo Commons article for one of my classes at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD. And when this UNL study landed in my lap I took another look at it. I think that it definatley makes people in rural areas (and anywhere for that matter) think again about what messages their communities are sending and how they are attracting people. For me, I think that UNL’s study will give some communities some hope and encouragement. Where I grew up in Southeastern SD, people get quite defensive when hearing about the Buffalo Commons. However, it does make people consider carefully how they are choosing to use their land and what the future holds for our small corner of the world.
I really appreciate your comments and reading through our Blog. Any other resources and comments you have are mostwelcome!
Nicole Lauck