The director of the U-S Census Bureau is getting a first-hand look at the population boom occurring in North Dakota. Director John Thompson is in the state at the invitation of Senator Heidi Heitkamp.
“…We worked with her staff to set up an agenda where we come to North Dakota and actually go across the state. We’re going to go to Bismarck and we’re going to go to Williston and look first hand at the oil boom.”
Thompson says the trip may also give him a chance to gain a better understanding about the state’s Native American population and how they can be served better through the census process…
“…If you look at our counts, we’ve sometimes had some lower accuracy numbers for American Indians on reservations in the past. And the way that we want to work at that is to really form partnerships with the American Indian reservations and really understand how we can apply sort of unique techniques to count each of the reservations.”
As to why there has been difficulty getting an accurate count, Thompson says there are a variety of issues, and those issues vary by each reservation.
