Location

Locations under Consideration:

• Rural Montana — largest mass cellular dead zones (white zones) esp. Petroleum and Garfield Counties — main focus area
• Rural Wyoming — cheaper land
• Northern Idaho — one of the bigger cellular dead zones in the U.S.?
• Nevada — more lenient rules on homesteading and building codes, warmer/drier climate more conducive to being self-sustaining?
• Around the area where Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada meet — extremely remote (~100 mi. to nearest Interstate), called the Great Basin? - large area surrounded by mountains on 3 sides

— Why Montana? —

Montana has several things going for it. To begin with, Montana as a whole has an extremely low population density. Only two U.S. states have a lower population density (only one of which is in the continental U.S.). In order to truly be independent, a rural and sparsely populated location is vital. The effects of nearby communities will be much more successfully mitigated if the town of Oakwood is situated in a remote part of the country, far away from any urban areas. The effects of chemicals and radiation, particularly the latter, can be felt a long way from the source from which they originate. In order to be out of range of cellular towers, a rural location is required, as the town is to have no cellular coverage and no mobile connectivity. While we can prevent antennas from being erected in the town, lack of control over the town's surroundings means either a buffer of land is required or the setting must already be relatively desolate to begin with. As a whole, urban areas today are extremely toxic, and rural areas at present and in the future are going to be the only safe places to live. The "small town" of Oakwood will still be a part of the rural landscape.

Because much of Montana is uninhabited, land in "Big Sky Country" is also relatively cheaper — in fact, land in Montana is cheaper than almost anywhere else in the country. Estimates on this statistic vary by source, and land in the eastern part of the state is generally cheaper than land in the (more mountainous) west. Since Oakwood will require a lot of land — as much as reasonably possible — even a small difference in the cost of land per acre will make a huge difference in the overall upfront costs of the town as well as future ongoing property taxes for residents.

As an added bonus, Montana is relatively safe. Think about it — what natural disasters are prevalent in Montana? If you can't think of any, you're in good company. TIME has ranked Montana to be the safest place in the U.S. to live — in fact, 7 out of the top 15 safest counties in the U.S. are located in Montana (nearly half)! This includes the (#1) safest county, Sweet Grass County!