NewWest.Net Conferences
Designing the New West
The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.
A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.
Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference.
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"Upcycling"
Glass Roots Gives New Life to Bozeman Glass
As the Bozeman City Commission moves ahead with curbside recycling, curiously absent from the list of recyclables is glass. When the Department of Environmental Quality ruled that the Holcim cement plant could no longer use recycled glass as an aggregate in cement, the city began crushing glass and using it as a cover on the landfill – not exactly what Bozeman residents had in mind when they took the time to collect and drop off their glass.
Now, with the landfill closing, even the pseudo-recycling of glass is not an option. The city continues to stockpile glass but without a long-term recycling solution.
In light of all this, Jennifer Pearson got a bright idea: this past summer she bought herself an industrial glass kiln and began giving glass new life. Glass Roots, her new business, uses solar power to melt glass and turn it into an array of bathroom tiles and lighting fixtures. The result is beautiful and, best of all, true recycling.
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Preserving Eden
Redefining Rural and Urban: A Community Discussion
Editor's Note: As the City of Bozeman and Gallatin County undertake the monumental tasks of steering growth in the Gallatin Valley and beyond, a renewed responsibility falls on the valley's citizens to become part of the process to ensure their property rights, make their values heard and preserve the economies, community spirit and environmental values that make living here so great. In this ongoing series on NewWest.Net/Bozeman, Susan Duncan begins a new discussion on redefining the relationship between rural and urban. As Duncan explains, the two are mutually dependent.
It’s the $64,000 question. The query everybody wants the answer to: “What can we do to keep this place the ‘Eden’ that it is?”
Want to see a real leader on this issue? Look in the mirror. It is time for each one of us to step up to the plate and lead.
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Column: Savagemama
A Little Note on Being ThankfulLast week when we sat around a table heavy with home cooked goodness and I thought about what I am thankful for this year, the list was extensive but a few things stood out. [more]
Multimedia
Video: Missoula Squabbles Over Urban Chickens
No matter which way Missoula City Council votes on the controversial urban chicken ordinance, the decision will surely ruffle feathers. The debate over chickens in the city has been contentious -- and, inherently, comical.
In this multimedia project, NewWest.Net/Missoula photographer and reporter Anne Medley teamed up with intern Jonathan Stumpf to explore the issue from both sides of the fence.
Click the image to watch the video.
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Leave No Child Inside
Autumn Leaf-Pile Jumping Makes Kids Smarter
The classic American sound of the baseball playoffs on television reminds me of something our family used to do this time of year.
According to the research done by the Children and Nature Network – and dozens of other organizations – “Children are smarter, cooperative, happier and healthier when they have frequent and varied opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out-of-doors.”
In other words, go hit a rock with a stick for awhile, kid. Good for ya.
In the 90s, when my two kids were school-age, we’d have a yearly party called “Catalapa Leaf-Whomping Day.” Two eight-stories-high catalpa trees grow in our streamside backyard - those monsters with dinner-plate-sized leaves and two-foot seed pods that look like dried green beans on crack (perfect for whacking your little sister).
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Green Mansions
Your Eco-Friendly Dream Home
For all of you who've been worrying about global warming while driving your Hummer to Butch's Lobster Bar to dine on crustaceans flown in overnight from the coast, you can cease your fretting. Ken Pieper and Associates and Legendary Properties Sotheby's International Realty (both of Evergreen) are now offering a high-end luxury home that not only features "a state-of-the-art media room, wine cellar, game room, exercise area and several family gathering areas," but has a miniscule energy footprint. And it can be yours for the very reasonable price of … $4.5 million! [more]
Monday Business Roundup
‘New Urban’ Islands Dot the West
Despite its sprawling geography and its reputation for car-oriented, Phoenix-style suburbs, the Mountain West is in reality becoming an ocean of thinly populated rural areas and small towns dotted by islands of dense, "new urban" centers.
In Idaho, reports Lee Vander Boegh in IQ Idaho magazine, "Thirty-three years after being compared to a bombing range, downtown Boise is driving commerce and the community." In Bozeman, the Story Mill project is an urban infill development "led by a socially responsible developer with a vision that provides an alternative to sprawling fields of high-priced, single-family homes." Even Cheyenne has been recognized with two consecutive "National Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Metropolitan Transportation Planning" for cities under 200,000 in population.
In Denver, meanwhile, developers can't build enough high-priced downtown condos.
In other business news: Colorado's economy remains strong in the face of a national slowdown; the state passes Texas as the No. 2 aerospace economy in the nation; and Wild Oats stores learn their fate under new ownership.
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Itinerant Goat Ranching
Hooves of Gold, Stomachs of Iron
I was riding my bike over the weekend on the bike path through CU's Research Park when I came upon a herd of goats. Grazing away in the brush along the creek, hooved and horned, with a dozen or so interested spectators of the human variety. I pulled up and talked to their herder, a weathered, friendly woman named Lou Colby.
After we chatted a few minutes I asked her where her permanent base is.
"Well, don't have one right now."
This took a minute to sink in. So, do they live in hotels or what?
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