Growth and Development
KPAX Goes Deep on Bitterroot Resort
By Jonathan Weber , 5-04-07
KPAX last night featured an excellent special report on the proposed Bitterroot Resort, emphasizing how important the decision about the project will be to the future of greater Missoula. The report, led by Ian Marquand, did not break a lot of new ground, but it did provide a thorough overview of the issues and interviews with many of the key players. Developer Tom Maclay was quite direct in stating that if he did not get Forest Service approval to use public lands on Carlton Ridge and Lolo Peak, he would proceed with a large real estate development and a private ski area on his own property. Maclay hopes to build several thousand residential units as well as a retail town center and as many as three golf courses - but the destination resort he envisions won't happen unless the Forest Service changes its management plan for the land above the Maclay Ranch.
A few tidbits that were new to me: school officials in Lolo and Florence favor the project, and the cost of a high-speed quad chairlift was pegged at $7 million (which makes you wonder how the economics of a private, residents-only ski hill would work). The KPAX piece is available online, though the video did not play very well on my computer.
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I hope you realize the issue is quite a bit more complicated than you paint it. Just because Tom Maclay wants to build a huge resort and development on his own private land doesn't mean that the people need to give Maclay and his investors public, roadless wildlands on Lolo Peak. Maclay and his investors can make their tens of millions of dollars off their own private land just fine without the public offering up public land for even millions more in profits to Maclay's team.
I watched the KPAX feature as well and I thought it was fairly in-depth (especially for TV news coverage), but leaned heavily in Maclay's favor. I also recall the Florence school official being fully supportive of the project (which, as a certified school teacher myself I thought was somewhat inappropriate) but I didn't get the impression that the Lolo school official outright favored the project. In fact, I recall that he brought up a number of concerns including more automobile traffic right outside the Lolo school yard. Regardless, the question at hand is this: should the U.S. people give up pristine, roadless public lands so that real estate developers can make tens of millions hand over fist?
And I don't see this resort being a huge recreation boon. The skiers I know seem to be doing just fine, and I see the destructive influence of the resort outweighing any benefits.
There's no shortage of recreational opportunities here, Craig. You and your family can drive in any direction and ski to your hearts' content. That won't change if the Forest Service turns Maclay's proposal down tomorrow. Our economy will survive. Western Montana is in the midst of amazing growth; however, what this state needs is more manufacturing jobs, energy development and computer technology, not just another chance for the locals to be the hired help.
Becky: Do you really want more Manufacturing and Energy Development in the Bitterroot? Smoke stacks instead of ski runs? What gives?
No, there's nothing inherently evil in profit, but there's something very evil in greed. Especially greed at the expense of others, and here I'm referring to the wild animals who inhabit and rely on that land. Some of us--many of us--see them as stakeholders here, too, although this might seem a foreign or trivial concept to those whose vision is obscured by dollar signs.