blog: ON RIVERS AND RANCHING
Soaking the Dirt
In the morning I drove down to the hay meadow, got out of the truck and pulled on my hip boots. I dosed my hands, face and neck with insecticide and then crossed the fence slowly, making sure each rubberized leg cleared the barbs by a good six inches. I’ve learned to protect these boots—even a small hole can soak you in a hurry.
The grass was up to the rivets on my jeans. As I took my first steps into it, I marveled at how quickly irrigated crops spring up in the long, hot days of early July. Still wet from last night’s shower, leaves and stalks flicked droplets of water on me. Each step sent two small clouds skyward, a whining gray one of mosquitoes and a yellowish one of pollen. The mosquitoes mobbed me looking for a sliver of non-toxic skin. The pollen curled lazily in my wake, tying knots in the air like smoke off a cigarette tip.
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Is trouble in paradise really over?
Report: Edra Blixseth to Take Control of Yellowstone Club
The battle over control of the exclusive Yellowstone Club may be coming to n end, reports the Wall Street Journal, with Edra Blixseth taking over her estranged husband Tim's 50% stake and becoming the sole owner of the club.
The deal came as part of the couple's divorce settlement, the Journal reported (though the Journal last year ran a story characterizing the divorce as a model of amicability, and that turned out to be far from the case). The story of the club's woes has turned into a veritable courtroom soap opera, echoing with phrases such as "liquidity crisis," "breach of fiduciary duty" and "hopelessly conflicted."
The Journal says Edra will bring in Discovery Land Co. to manage the club, which is struggling with a heavy debt load and a cratering real estate market. At least some club members, who are horrified by the negative publicity, have told New West they favor professional management.
History suggests this is not the end of the story, so stay tuned.
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As Barack Obama grilled burgers and hot dogs in Butte, Mont. this Fourth of July, Davis Guggenheim, the director of An Inconvenient Truth and his film crew were tailing the presidential candidate, filming for a project about Obama and Democrats in the West.
Jeff Zeleny has the tidbit on The New York Times The Caucus blog, reporting that the filming happened all day, at the picnic in front of the World Mining Museum and during Obama's trip to the "richest hill on earth."
The film will be shown in August at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
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Montana in Play
Obama Celebrates in Butte, AmericaSen. Barack Obama celebrated July 4 in Butte, MT, honoring a spirited working-class town rich in history and signaling his seriousness about contesting the state in the general election. Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post has a thorough analysis of the political dynamics of the Butte visit and the Democrat's New West strategy. Gov. Brian Schweitzer had nice things to say, which has not always been the case in the past. It was also a family occasion for the presumptive Democratic nominee. The Montana Standard has full local coverage and New West's Alexia Beckerling photographed the event. [more]
lynx habitat cited
Bitterroot Resort Thwarted Again
The U.S. Forest Service turned down the Bitterroot Resort’s third request for a special-use permit to use national forest lands for Nordic and alpine skiing and mountain biking, Perry Backus of the Ravalli Republic reports.
Resort officials said Wednesday they are reworking their request and will likely resubmit it within a few weeks.
The new federal conservation regulations for Canadian Lynx put into place this spring made Lolo Forest’s lynx habitat the number one concern for the Forest Service during the reviewing process. Also, ski trail maintenance could disturb elk wintering habitat, and clearing trees for alpine skiing in the Bitterroot Forest could ruin the view from the Maple Creek area, Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Dave Bull told Backus.
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WHERE IS THE HOUSE BILL?
Congress Needs to Walk the Talk on Recreation Fees
On June 18, finally, Congress started seriously looking into the runaway recreational fee charging policy of federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (FS), but it's still just talk. We've had enough of that, so let's just spike this pay-for-play policy, which is at best an extreme stretch of the legal authority given agencies by Congress--"given," sort of, I should say, since our elected leaders never even debated it or voted on it.
Even though it's moving at glacier speed, we at least have the Baucus-Crapo Bill, S. 2438, introduced in the Senate to spike the Recreation Access Tax. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, ripe for election-year politics. Now, we need a sponsor for a similar bill in the House.
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From The New West Blog
NRA to Unload $40M Against Obama
The National Rifle Association plans to spend about $40 million on this year's presidential campaign, with $15 million of that devoted to portraying Barack Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment rights upheld last week by the Supreme Court, Jonathan Martin at Politico.com reports.
"Our members understand that if Barack Obama is elected president, and he has support in the Senate to confirm anti-gun Supreme Court nominees, [the District of Columbia v. Heller decision] could be taken away from us in the future,” Chris Cox, head of the NRA’s political arm, told Politico.
Ben Smith, a Politico.com blogger, says the consequences might be "tougher going in some of those long-shot states, notably Montana and Alaska, where gun rights are big but where Obama may out-organize McCain."
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newwest.net's summer photo contest
H2Ography - Give Us Your Best Western Water Shot!
Whether it's whitewater rafting or a tranquil float in a tube, dousing flames or farming, fly-fishing or camping at an alpine lake, summer in the West is all about water. And so NewWest.Net presents H2Ography, our 2008 summer photo contest. Give us your best water shot and win cool prizes.
The online contest, hosted by Flickr, is sponsored by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography and Missoula-area businesses The Dark Room, The Canoe Rack, and Big Dipper Ice Cream. It's open to pro and amateur photographers alike, shooting in the Rocky Mountain region.
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Barack Obama will be in Butte's Fourth of July parade Friday, the Montana Standard reports.
“He’ll be up front, marching with the Democratic Party,” Mollie Kirk, Butte Celebrations organizer, told the Standard, and it is believed that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will accompany Obama.
The parade route is about 1.5 miles, from the Butte Civic Center to Elizabeth Warren Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. Friday.
We'll have more details as they become available.
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the montana legacy project
Baucus, Plum Creek, Conservation Groups Announce Massive Land Deal
Standing just below the summit of Kalispell’s Lone Pine State Park, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., today announced the purchase of 320,000 acres of Plum Creek Timber Company-owned land by two conservation groups, calling the deal, “the largest land purchase, for conservation purposes, in American history.”
Dubbed, “The Montana Legacy Project,” The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land are buying the acreage for $510 million, and will finance payments on the land over the next three years through private and public sources, with the federal government paying for about half the cost through a forestry conservation bond mechanism Baucus inserted into the recently passed Farm Bill.
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