Rapidly growing small towns like Bozeman face choices with long-term consequences for their communities. Next month, Gallatin County residents will be asked to consider its second open space bond initiative. While I tend to favor preserving open space, I also recognize there are tradeoffs. Alas, not all cherished values are free. To get some things […]
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Many of us who love our region consider Wallace Stegner our most perceptive and insightful observer and constructive critic. He chastised a political economy and culture that fostered “boomers,” folks who high-graded, exploited, then bailed out. He admonished us to create a society worthy of our scenery and urged us to foster “nesters,” individuals who […]
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We recently returned from the 2004 general meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS). This organization was founded in 1947 by intellectuals committed to resisting tyranny of the left and the right. They built the intellectual analogues to bullets and bombs. Their vision was realized on November 10, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. Three […]
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I live in the Sourdough Creek watershed, just south of Bozeman. This mix of federal, state, and private lands is highly valued — as a recreation spot for city residents, for its wildlife habitat, and as one of Bozeman’s primary sources of drinking water. The watershed’s forests and soils are a natural filter for the […]
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In the 1970s I created an institution at MSU, the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources. Among its programs was one to introduce nationally prominent journalists and editors to environmental economics. We attracted top talents from top publications (e.g. Forbes, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post). When I […]
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The Bush administration has authored a proposal that will, for the first time, give Western governors authority to formally propose development in our wildest public lands. This overturns President Clinton’s decision to set aside 40 million acres of National Forest as roadless areas. Although the initiative was criticized as part of the Clinton administration’s “War […]
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Rural communities all over America are shrinking. Consolidation of farms and agribusinesses reduces the number of local jobs. Those residents who remain must bear ever more of the tax base. As individual tax burdens grow, the towns no longer can support their schools, hospitals, and other amenities. As amenities disappear, fewer young people return. The […]
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In a recent High Country News column, Mark from Missoula lamented: “I’ve given up on one of the great American dreams — owning a home of my own.” He protests: “[I]t’s becoming impossible to find affordable housing in the West, even in the non-resort towns.” He’s wrong. Both his logic and data are flawed. Perhaps […]
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Professor William Cronon is a University of Wisconsin philosopher and historian who explores environmental history and the West. He is in Bozeman this week to deliver the annual Wallace Stegner Lecture, tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Museum of the Rockies. I recommend it. Cronon’s mere presence illustrates the evolution of the American West and […]
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In late 2002 Sierra Club Books published Downhill Slide: Why the Corporate Ski Industry Is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns, and the Environment by ski journalist Hal Clifford. I just reread it after skiing our newest area, Moonlight Basin. Clifford gives an extremely harsh critique of the ski industry. He faults its cultural, economic, and […]
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