In this three-part series, the Center’s Lukas Keapproth and Mario Koran explore how three Wisconsin counties are coping with their population changes — and potential statewide solutions to rural population loss.

Dairy farmer Jeremy Meissner and farm manager Huron Mireles are part of the reason Clark County’s population is growing while nearby counties’ levels are declining. Part three of three in the Center’s Rural Slide series.

In Wood County, where almost half of the paper industry jobs disappeared during the past decade, local leaders are using a regional approach to boost existing industries. Part two of three in the Center’s Rural Slide series.

In Iron County, which lost one of every seven residents from 2000 to 2010, residents say a controversial taconite mine may be the only way to reverse devastating population loss. Part one of three in the Center’s Rural Slide series.

Main Story:
Frac sand boom creates thousands of jobs
Interactive Map:
2012 Frac Sand Facilities in Wisconsin

The EOG Resources sand processing plant in Chippewa Falls is currently the largest such facility in North America.
Here’s the EOG plant, by the numbers:
$65 million
Assessed value of the facility
78,000
Tons of storage capacity for finished sand
62,888
Yards of concrete used [...]

Currently, there are no official employment numbers for the state’s rapidly expanding frac sand industry. But the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, using job-site estimates developed by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, found that when existing mines and those being built are fully operating, the industry will employ about 2,780 people — a sizeable number given the state’s overall luckluster job picture.

The number of manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin had fallen in recent years, from nearly 600,000 in 1998 to just over 450,000 today. But manufacturing still accounts for about 16 percent of all state jobs. And in the past year, it has begun to rebound.

Frac sand fever has hit much of west-central Wisconsin, catching residents and local governments by surprise when demand for sand suddenly soared and permit applications began to pour in. The number of Wisconsin frac sand mining operations has more than doubled in the past year.