Memphis Jim wrote:
There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now.


Thanks, your and Greg's explanation make sense. For some stupid reason,
I assumed that since our Country's population is growing, all areas of
the Country would have population increases. The area I live in and the
areas I most visit all are places with considerable growth and the
issues are dealing with this growth while still retaining the open space
that makes the areas desirable. Although ranching isn't profitable for
smaller operations (and VERY difficult even for big ones), the land
they're on is very valuable and many ranches get sold and developed into
"gentleman ranchettes". Thankfully the majority of the mountainous areas
in CO, NM, WY, MT, and UT are National Forests. Hopefully they'll stay
that way.

Willi