I suspect most are at 1000 feet. A full scale at 1000 feet may seem a lot lower. Also when I flew full scale I did not take advantage of flying 500 feet above land, because the "sparsely populated" definition is not well defined, and 500 feet does not give enough time to get the plane to best glide speed and spot a field so I did not think that satisfied the part about being able to safely land. The only time I did that was during emergency landing practice, and close to the beach above water. If it is a problem I would call the FAA and complain about it, maybe post notices at the local FBO's.