In the last several decades, northern New England has become economically depressed, and people are more likely to move away from the area, rather than move into it, causing the population to decrease. Here you will find some reasons for this trend, as well as some possible solutions to help drive people back into that area and boost that region’s economy.
This region suffers from some economic handicaps, most of which are environmental in nature. There are poor soils for farming that are generally very rocky and rugged in nature. There are longer winters, and thus, shorter growing seasons, here than there are in other regions that exist farther to the south of the continent. Because the growing seasons are shorter, it takes longer to re-grow trees that are used for timber than it does elsewhere, so timber needs to be harvested more conservatively. Fishing, which was one of the earliest mainstays of settlers to the region has been erratic, as well as having the population of fisheries offshore decline in recent decades, due mainly to overfishing.
Besides that, as the rest of the continent saw great economic growth and industrialization, this region has seen very little. This seems to be due primarily because of the lack of good infrastructure, such as fast and adequate road systems, longer distances from the population centers farther south and inland, and difficulty in construction due to really rugged and difficult terrain.
There is not a very high population density in the region, as the population tends to be quite thin over most of the region, with only a few medium-sized population centers. Because of the lack of economy and jobs available, many people who live in this region have moved farther south, such as to the region of Megalopolis, to find work, rather than remain put and become somewhat helpless. The same seems to be true on the Canadian side, where people move from the Maritime Provinces to Ontario. This has tended to cause a slow population reduction over the course of many decades. The only thing that seems to be slowing down population reduction is the fact that people are moving there after retirement from jobs in the Megalopolis region, for a quieter life in more rural and rustic surroundings, for reasons of tourism, including to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life or to snow ski in winter, or to take part in some artist colony.
Farming, especially in northern New England, such as is represented in the township of Sandwich in New Hampshire, reached its maximum height, in terms of number of farmsteads, around 1880. The cycle started as settlers, in the 1600’s and 1700’s, moved into the region, setting up farmsteads. Eventually, some of the farmers moved away, and neighbors bought those smaller farmsteads to create larger farmsteads, and in the process, improved agricultural productivity, reaching its peak around the 1880’s. But then, like as happened elsewhere in New England, as more fertile and arable farmland opened up farther west, such as in the Midwest and Great Plains, which also happened to be easier to farm and till, the land used for agricultural purposes declined in northern New England. As agriculture declined in this region, farm fields grew back into wooded lots, and farmhouses became dilapidated.
This whole cycle is an example of the difficulty of economics in the region, as other regions seem to be more suited for different economic categories. Agriculture tends to be the bedrock upon which a population is founded and is every region’s original economic foundation from which other sectors of the economy rise, eventually overtaking agriculture in economic strength. Unfortunately, Northern New England never had a time where other sectors of the economy rose to overtake agriculture, and the agricultural dearth they have now, and its associated population dearth, means little economic foundation upon which to grow other sectors of the economy. If they can ever get to this point, where the agricultural sector of the economy is dwarfed by the other sectors of the economy, like we find in southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, they wouldn’t have to worry about this deterioration of the agricultural sector. The whole movement away from farming and agriculture has helped fuel emigration out of this area of New England because no other economic sectors have risen.
Another important sector of the economy of northern New England in earlier years was the logging industry. There is a lot of forest land in this part of New England, especially in northern Maine, with little population being disturbed, and thus, a potentially high economic value on that lumber. Unfortunately, there are a number of variables that have caused the logging industry to decline. First, the fact that this area is farther north, and suffers from harsher and longer winters means that it takes longer for second-growth trees, that are planted in the place where the first-growth trees were harvested, to grow and become mature enough to be harvested because of the shorter growing seasons. Add to that the fact that the terrain is so rugged that much good timber remains inaccessible, and can only be gotten if the lumber companies invest a good deal of money to grade some land for roadways to get to those areas, meaning that those areas really are not economically feasible logging areas. Add to that the fact that there have been biological infestations of different sorts that have decimated tree populations, and you have a situation where there is an economic decline in one of the main occupations, besides farming, that was to be found in northern New England. When forestry took off in northern New England, it brought a population increase with it, but as the use of that resource has slowed considerably, and contracted in more recent years, the need for workers has all but dried up, reducing those forestry jobs that are available, driving emigration out of the region to other areas that have available jobs.
As for the fishing sector of the economy, which was one of the main occupations for people living in little fishing towns by the sea, it is not that stable, as fish populations could fluctuate considerably, and the eventual declines of populations of fisheries has added to the economic blight of the people who do this as their life occupation. New fishing technologies, such as traps and deep-sea trawling, caused the industry to become so efficient that it caused the population of several fish species, as well as some other seafood species, to decline, as a result of overfishing. Although a variety of fish and other sea creatures are caught and sold on the pen market, including lobster, crab, salmon, cod, haddock, and shrimp, there is still much blight as fishermen struggle to have enough income to survive. Add to this fluctuating and diminishing fishery population the fact that the open market, which the seafood is sold to, is often unstable, where the price fetched for different types of fish, or lobster, or other sea creatures, can be very low some years, and higher in other years, depending on consumer demand, supply numbers of those species, and availability of those same products from other places, which also effects supply. On top of this, the government has initiated rules for fishing that should help alleviate the problem of overfishing and the destroying of fish and sea creature habitats on ocean floors, but that requires the use of older technologies – this could cause the number of people who fish for their life work to decrease, forcing many of those people to look elsewhere for employment, including other areas of the country.
So, what are some things that we can do to boost the regional economy and bring people back to this region? A few areas were touched on briefly in the third paragraph of this section, but let’s go into more detail as to the means that we can use to help increase the region’s economy and population.
- Create rural retirement communities that cater to the need for some people, when they retire from a life of work in the urbanized Megalopolis region, who see a need to reconnect with nature and live a quieter and more rustic life.
- Increase the marketing of different locations within the region that might be attractive to people other than retired folk, who want to move to a place more rustic, rural and quiet, a reconnect with nature. This includes places within the country, and improvement and marketing of small towns.
- Cater to the needs of Megalopolis residents who want to get away for a weekend in the winter to go snow skiing. Create and market different ski and winter resorts throughout this region that draw people in.
- Cater to tourism in the warmer months, as well, by creating rustic small town environments such as is found in Nashville, Indiana, Saugatuck, Michigan, or Gatlinburg, Tennessee, as well as other resort locations that are away from even small towns and are buried deep in the country in different locations.
- Create more artist colonies, helping to bring possible artists into these locations, and bringing possible customers to them, or creating trips so they can showcase their artwork in the cities of Megalopolis, such as Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
- There are some interstate superhighways that pass through this area. Create some industrial zones in different locations along these highways, while at the same time minimizing their spread over the much-prided rustic nature of their region. Get some economic developers to work at getting already-entrenched businesses in other parts of the country to expand by creating a new addition to their businesses in these industrial zones. This will bring some much needed work to the area.
- Create some motivations, or tax incentives, to get people to want to move to that region, or start a small business there.
- Invest in providing some form of free or cheap transportation, such as through shuttle busses, from population centers to different art colonies, resorts, ski resorts, bed & breakfasts, and small towns. Use this as a means to draw more people into the area and improve the region’s economy. These shuttle busses can bring people from Boston, Providence, Hartford, New York City, the Albany-Schenectady area, and so forth.
- Create more festivals and sporting events, such as a maple syrup festival, covered bridge festival or art festival. Among the sporting events could be cross-country or downhill skiing tournaments, or winter marathons that draw people to want to run and compete in the snow surrounded by the beauty of nature.
There are plenty of other good ideas that could be added to these few, but this is a start. If the governing bodies of this region would start by just following these ideas set forth, they would be on the right track towards improving their region’s economy, as well as bringing people back into the region.
