Transcript Student Report in PowerPoint

Regional Metaphor As Geographic Method:
The Case Of The Buffalo Commons On The
Great Plains
Deborah E. & Frank J. Popper
High Plains are located between the Rockies and Tallgrass Prairies of the
Midwest and South, Montana and North Dakota, to Texas and New Mexico.
This area produces: Cattle, Wheat, Cotton, Sheep, Oil, Natural Gas, & Metals.
It is nearly treeless & the climate is semi-arid.
The population is mostly rural. The 1990 population was 6.5 million people
scattered across a 1/6th of the United States.
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Wyoming
Nebraska
Colorado
Kansas
History on the Plains
• 1st Cycle: Homestead Act (1862) - 1890’s
• 2nd Cycle: Early 1900’s – 1930’s
• 3rd Cycle: 1940’s through 70’s – present
Buffalo Commons
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Meant to be a metaphor for the region.
Not an assault on the high plains way of life.
A less intensive use of land.
Government regulates between cultivation and
wilderness.
Soft Edged Planning
• Strength of reaction helped achieve some community
building.
• Communities or groups took the metaphor and
elaborated on values and choices they wished to attain
and avoid.
Current Commons Projects
Northern Plains: Public land - herds increased markedly.
Private lands – a noticeable number of ranchers switched
to buffalo.
Nature Conservancy greatly expanded buy-ups on the
Plains.
Plains Indians formed the Inter Tribal Bison Cooperative.
Saskatchewan created Grasslands National Park.
1992: The US Interior Dept. began the Great Plains
partnership.
Metaphors in Other Regions
• Poppers meant for their ideas to be used
in other areas of the US.
• Catchy phrases meant to stimulate public
response.
• Pacific Northwest, Erie Canal Project,
Detroit.
Conclusion
• Poppers meant for “Buffalo Commons” to
be used as a means to motivate the
revitalization the high plains region.