Ch. 11 The Great Plains

The Great Plains of America, consisting of 12 states and parts of three canadian provinces shares both similarities and differences with California's Central Valley.

The Central Valley lives in a constant booming economy in the agricultural industry. While The Great Plains unfortunately must deal with a boom-bust economy that is unreliable for the economy. Similarly to The Dust Bowl of the 1930's in The Great Plains, California's Central Valley commonly suffers from droughts. Both natural causes and man made problems make it difficult for farmers to acquire all the water they may need to support their crops.

Both the Central Valley and Great Plains once shared an abundant amount of bison in their grasslands. Sadly, in most places these populations have declined. "Biologists estimate that as many as 60 to 80 million bison inhabited The Great Plains before 1800, but during the 19th century they were nearly exterminated. Their hides were made into leather and their bones became fertilizer. Only about 100 remained alive by 1900, and all of these survivors lived in Yellowstone National Park." In The Central Valley the extinction of their entire megafauna has been due to their depletion of natural wetlands and grasslands and fire. "Early reports from explorers indicate that vast herds of grazing animals in the Central Valley rivaled the numbers of bison on the Great Plains(source here)."

Many young people have been leaving The Great Plains, leaving the area to experience population loss in recent years.  The opportunities in urban and suburban areas have been a pull factor for those leaving. Unlike The Great Plains, about 6.5 million people live in the Central Valley today, and it is the fastest growing region in California.