Missoula Notebook
Tending My Own Garden, Chasing Other People’s Chihuahuas
Without ever really deciding to, I ended up following the chihuahua around for the next half hour, up and down Brooks and through the side streets between Brooks and Southgate Mall. Whenever I lost sight of the dog, I had only to look for the attention he attracted. Out on Brooks, traffic stoppages like the one I had first noticed occurred whenever he wandered into the travel lanes. On the side streets, which don’t see a lot of pedestrian use in that area, I would inevitably spot a party of dog pursuers on foot, squinting into the sun as they tried to keep the tiny animal in sight.
Eventually I followed the dog down a dead-end street near the back of Southgate Mall. Another car was in pursuit as well, driven by a man who pantomimed to me that he was going to try to tempt the dog with a pizza he had in his car with him. (Why not? I had tried throwing trail mix at the dog.) We both left our cars and, for a minute or two, had the dog cornered in a yard that was fenced on three sides, but he out-maneuvered us and ran into the street again.
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guest column
Building a New and Sustainable Residential Model
About a year ago, a client of mine came to me and asked me to design a house that would have no energy bill -- a "Net Zero House," producing as much energy as it used. During the same year, I found that my energy bill for my own house was beginning to become much more of a burden on our family budget. These two events led me to research energy costs and how those costs are impacting the average American household. It was immediately clear from the research that energy prices are outpacing income and our current way of building houses will create energy bills that will not be sustainable for the average household. [more]
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A Bridge Over the Blackfoot
The New/ Old Bridge at Milltown
In 1921, a steel bridge was built across the Blackfoot River at Milltown; the contractor was a company called Security Bridge, and the main man on the job was W.P. Roscoe. Now that bridge is being rebuilt as part of the Milltown Dam removal project - made a little longer, among other things - and will be used as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing. The company doing the work is Roscoe Bridge, a unit of Roscoe Steel & Culvert, a Billings-based company owned by Jim Roscoe - the grandson of the original builder.
The steel truss bridge is not what you would build today - there are cheaper and easier methods - but it holds a powerful place in our industrial history, and in the aesthetic memories of local residents.
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media & conservation
International Wildlife Film Festival Begins Saturday
The 31st International Wildlife Film Festival begins Saturday in Missoula and rolls through next week. This year's theme is The Changing Planet: A Global Evolution in Media & Conservation.
Special events include a Western barn dance Tuesday sponsored by National Geographic Television; a presentation Thursday by Alastair Fothergill, the executive producer of BBC's Planet Earth and Saving Planet Earth; and a free traveling photo exhibit and a wildlife and art show reception. The WildWalk Parade down Higgins Ave. is Saturday at 12:45 p.m.
Visit the festival's Website (www.wildlifefilms.org) for more information. Click here for the schedule of events, and here for film synopses.
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timberlands and real estate
Missoula County Asks Mark Rey to Halt Plum Creek Talks
Wednesday the Missoula County Commissioners sent a letter to Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey asking him to drop consideration of the forest road easement amendment until the documents proposed for amendment have been identified and made available to the public.
The commissioners wrote: "...the failure to identify, review, and properly reference the easements to be amended will make the proposed Easement Amendment legally void, and the process leading up to your expected approval fatally flawed."
Rey, overseer of the Forest Service, said during a meeting last week with officials from western Montana that he would not make the paperwork available and invited a lawsuit, which appears imminent.
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MSU Wheeler Center Annual Spring Conference
A Discussion on Montana’s Energy and Agriculture FutureWhat does the future of agriculture and energy in Montana appear to be, particularly in the variable climate challenges we face?
This is the spotlight of the discussion at the Burton K. Wheeler Center’s statewide conference next week, “Climate Change in Montana: Impacts and Opportunities for Energy and Agriculture.”
On May 12-13, an immense conversation between the agriculture and energy sectors, environmental, educational and state agencies, legislators, officials and climate scientists will focus on Montana’s energy and agriculture sectors’ innovations and opportunities, climate challenges and its impacts, and future prices and outlook.
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From the Flathead Beacon Blog
Obama’s Lead on Clinton May End Montana’s Swan Song
The chances of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton returning to Montana took a hit Tuesday night. After Obama’s crushing victory in North Carolina and Clinton’s narrow win in Indiana, the majority of pundits have declared the race all but over. I hope not. The state press has been blanketed with high-profile attention from each campaign over the last few weeks and it would be a shame to find out that the media was simply used for political gain.
Since Obama and Clinton visited Montana last month, and subsequently opened campaign field offices across the state, the local press has been constantly updated on why each candidate is absolutely great and has the state’s best interests in mind. You see, we’re passed a deluge of daily notes, many with personal touches.
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guest opinion: plum creek and mark rey
Backdoor Deals on Public Lands Deeply DisappointingIn Montana, we are proud of our sunshine laws that keep government actions open and responsive to the public. Unfortunately, the laws that apply to the federal government are not as enlightened, which can sometimes lead to nasty surprises from Washington—surprises that impact the clean water and open spaces we treasure on our public lands.
Montanans got just such a surprise two weeks ago, when the Missoula County Commissioners and Senator Jon Tester discovered that Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, the Bush Administration political appointee who oversees the Forest Service, has been quietly negotiating a backroom deal with real estate developer Plum Creek.
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In The New West magazine
Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
It's 2:30 a.m., and Bud Boyce, 75, fumbles in the dim light of the pickup cab for the controls of the mounted spotlight.
Outside, the beam cuts the blackness, illuminating clouds of warm breath and glassy eyes as it pans from left to right, then back again across a herd of more than 250 Angus-Hereford cows, all pregnant and ready to give birth.
The cattle huddle in dark masses. Bud plays the light across them, carefully watching for a cow in labor or a newborn calf. With no signs of a delivery-in-progress and no new calves since the last check three hours ago, he wheels his pickup back toward the house and lurches down the frozen drive. In three hours, he'll do it again. Then, ranch hand Mike Horst will take over.
It's a grueling schedule, part of what makes ranching a lifestyle, not a job.
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LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT
Wilderness is Multiple Use
Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say to myself, wrong!
So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness.
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