Key Insights to Community

Like other towns that demonstrate a strong sense of community Bozeman is a wonderful place. I wrote this as a Letter to the Editor of the Bozeman Chronicle to thank the unknown person who found the keys to my Jeep on the sidewalk somewhere and put them under the driver’s side windshield wiper.   As […]

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 You Called, We Came: Fighting the Fires of 1988

You Called, We Came: Fighting the Fires of 1988

This is a story of thankfulness.  This is a story that makes me proud to be an American. The West Yellowstone Economic Development Council celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the 1988 Fires on September 2nd 2013, the day 25 years ago when farmers from southern Idaho trucked their irrigation pipes to “West” and helped set […]

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 Environmentalism as Religion

Environmentalism as Religion

In accepting an Oscar for “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore said, “People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue. It’s a moral issue.” Gore is not the only one defining climate change and other environmental issues in moral terms, and, as more and more environmentalists focus […]

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 Wallace Stegner Writing Contest

Wallace Stegner Writing Contest

In 1985 we founded Gallatin Writers to explore pressing Western issues. Gallatin is sponsoring a writing contest for college students. The three prizes are modest, $1500, $1000, and $500; the challenge huge. The Stegner contest solicits essays to help our decision makers and opinion leaders understand and wrestle with the implications of demographic, cultural, and […]

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 Judge Dave and the Rainbow Family

Judge Dave and the Rainbow Family

Here’s a book describing 20,000+ hippies, New Agers, and camp followers descending on an isolated rural community. Imagine a conservative federal district judge conducting a “jury view” of the site to settle conflicts between state public health rules and First Amendment constitutional rights to peacefully assemble in a national forest. “Judge Dave and the Rainbow […]

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 Lessons in a Supermarket

Lessons in a Supermarket

Bozeman, Montana, a town with 30,000 people, contains a modest supermarket that offers valuable lessons. This store has tens of thousands of items of various sizes and brands, generic labels, and bulk products. Competition for the consumer’s dollar occurs among this and other stores, brands within the store, and different products within individual brands. Among […]

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