Grassland Foundation lecture to look at future of rural communities
Released on 03/14/2007, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Thursday, Apr. 12, 2007
WHERE: Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q Street, Hewit Place
Most rural areas of the northern and central plains are seeing an acceleration of the depopulation trend that began in the 1960s. While the farm and ranch economy remains financially uncertain, population growth around large urban centers has had an impact on the value of the land surrounding those cities.
Economic and policy analyst Larry Swanson will discuss these trends at the Grassland Foundation's second annual lecture on "Grassland Conservation and Sustainable Communities" at 3:30 p.m. April 12 in the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St. Swanson's talk, "Can the Path be Altered? Salvaging and Renewing Communities of the Rural Plains," and a 3 p.m. reception in the museum are free and open to the public.
In his presentation, Swanson will examine whether the spreading rural depopulation can be stemmed or reversed, if a more stable economic foundation can be constructed for rural communities, and the potential of environmental rehabilitation and restoration in altering the downward trends.
Swanson is director of the Carroll and Nancy Fields O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West and head of its regional economy program at the University of Montana. In 1980 he received a doctorate in economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and then served as director of the Office of Policy Studies at the UNL Center for Great Plains Studies. In 1988 Swanson became director of economic analysis for the University of Montana's Bureau of Business Research. He was named director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in 2005.
The purpose of the Grassland Foundation lecture series is to inform the university community and Nebraska residents about issues and current knowledge in biodiversity conservation science and policy, with particular emphasis on the conservation of grassland ecosystems and the sustainability of their human communities.
The lecture is cosponsored with the Grassland Foundation by the Center for Great Plains Studies, Department of Economics, Center for Grassland Studies and the School of Natural Resources, all at UNL; and the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and the Prairie Plains Resource Institute. For more information, contact Kim Weide, Center for Great Plains Studies, (402) 472-3964, or Jill Francke, Grassland Foundation, (402) 477-2044.
CONTACT: Kim Weide, Events Coordinator, Center for Great Plains Studies, (402) 472-3964