Today depopulation is still a issue of significant concern in much of America 's non-metropolitan Great Plains region. Nebraska has routinely been cited as a prime example of rural depopulation and that phenomenon's effect on social and economic conditions. Between 1950 and 2000, the 43 most rural Nebraska counties saw a decline in total population of 40%, while the state's metropolitan counties doubled in size. Rural depopulation has now reached a point at which the continued viability, and indeed the existence, of many communities and institutions in rural Nebraska are very much in question.

Such data paint an ominous picture of rural Nebraska 's future. However it is a picture that is incomplete. Whether it is the result of market forces, organized development efforts or the tenacity of some communities, counter trends can be identified. This is true even in Nebraska 's most rural region; the eleven county western Panhandle - a region in the heart of the proposed Buffalo Commons.

According to the 2000 Census of Population, the majority of smaller geographic units in rural Nebraska (communities and townships) saw 20-percent or more of their 2000 population arrive from some other county, state or country during the five preceding years. Moreover, on a percentage basis, those new arrivals were relatively more important to the very rural Panhandle region than they were in other parts of Nebraska . These data demonstrate that the movement of population in Nebraska 's Panhandle is not one-way. People do indeed move to this very rural Great Plains region. This is encouraging. However, what the Census and other available secondary data cannot tell us is of critical importance to the future of rural communities and rural economies. Secondary data can not tell us:

• What attracted in-migrants to their current residences.
  
• What, if any, residential recruitment efforts they responded to.
  
• What recent in-migrants do for a living and what employable skills they possess.
  
• What entrepreneurial interests they might possess.
  
• How satisfied in-migrants are with their current residential situation.
  
• How they participate in the social and cultural life of their new communities.
  
• What disincentives there might be to continued residence.