SETTLER - a person who goes to live in a new place where usually there are few or no people

FORTY-NINERS - one taking part in the rush to California for gold in 1849

ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION - changes made to the land where people live

PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time, or relationship

DEPLETION - to use most or all of something important; to greatly reduce the amount of something

INFRASTRUCTURE - the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region, or organization to function properly

DISCRIMINATION - the practice of unfairly treating different categories of people or things differently from other people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or gender.

PIONEER - one who is first to settle a region, enter into a project, or begin a type of study, business, or industry

FRONTIER - a region with very few people living in it where people are just beginning to explore

ANNEXATION - to add an area or region to a country, state, etc.; to take political control of a territory or place

INTERPRET - to explain or understand the meaning of information, words, or actions

URBAN SPRAWL - when large stores, groups of houses, and other structures are built in an area around a city that formerly had few people living in it; the spreading out of a city due to its growth

NON-NATIVE SPECIES - a plant or animal living and growing in a place that is not the region where it naturally lives and grows

PREJUDICE - an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of their race, gender, religion, national origin, or anything not based on reason or actual experience with them