Structural engineers never bitch about the force of gravity nor aeronautical engineers about air friction. These are merely forces with which they contend. These observations come from a casual, but substantial survey conducted during recent travels. Whenever I met an aeronautical or structural engineer I’d simply inquire, “Have you or any of your colleagues ever […]

Dr. Geoffrey Gamble President Montana State University Dear Dr. Gamble, Welcome to Bozeman. I wish you a long and successful tenure as president of MSU. I’m especially pleased by the Montana Board of Regents decision to select a candidate who earned his Ph. D. from a world-class institution. You’ve experienced excellence. Last September, MSU’s interim […]

Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2000, John A. Baden and Pete Geddes, editors.

With prices of oil near $35 per barrel and natural gas above $5 per million BTU, the debate over development versus the preservation of natural landscapes has re-erupted. Think of the oil lying under Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a huge electromagnet energized as the price of crude goes up. A year ago, […]

I’m writing this column in support of environmental quality prior to the election. I hope voters purge two types of politicians; troglodytes who confuse conservative with exploitative, and watermelons, those green on the outside and pink within. Remember Jim Watt? When appointed Secretary of Interior in 1981, he led the “Sagebrush Rebellion”. He promised to […]

Recently, my wife and I were dinner guests in a beautiful home. Like hundreds of others, it’s built in on a forested hill on the edge of the Gallatin National Forest. It is enclosed by trees which nearly brush the house. When a forest fire makes a run up their slope, their house is likely […]

Recently, my wife and I were dinner guests in a beautiful home. Like hundreds of others, it’s built in on a forested hill on the edge of the Gallatin National Forest. It is enclosed by trees which nearly brush the house. When a forest fire makes a run up their slope, their house is likely […]

Planning for an unknown future, the only kind we have, is indeed difficult. For many of us westerners, it’s also vexing. The past we knew and loved is rapidly eroding and what lies ahead is ever more amorphous. The world’s economic integration profoundly effects even the most remote and traditional ranching valleys. Throughout the Rockies […]

This summer’s fires kindled examinations of federal fire policy-but most folks failed. The problems bequeathed by a century of poor forest management have no easy solution such as more logging and road building. And Smokey the Bear’s “Only you can prevent forest fires,” mantra, the world’s most successful public relations campaign, exacerbates the problem. Western […]

Last month around Montana the U.S. Forest Service held public meetings on their proposal to prohibit road construction in the remaining unroaded areas of the national forests. Many rural westerners are highly critical of the proposal. Their protests echo the Indians Ghost Dance ceremonies of the late 1800s which attempted to bring back the buffalo. […]