Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall this week confirmed an earlier report that the 48Straight winter sports and music event is canceled for this season and that Jeep caused the cancellation by pulling its support.

"It doesn't take a brain surgeon or the mayor of a small town to realize what's going on in the auto industry," Hall said.

Jeep is trying to cut costs wherever it can, Hall said, and that means the festival, a boon for Sun Valley, is out. "Unfortunately, we are also a victim of the national economic downturn."

Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"

In the November 17th Science Section of The New York Times there was an article by Jim Robbins about the current pine beetle event occurring in the West.

There was a lot of good factual information in the piece about pine beetles and their basic ecology, and on the whole, Robbins did a good job of describing some of the concerns that people have about the beetle situation. Nevertheless, the tone and implied message conveyed an overly pessimistic and negative picture of beetles as well as wildfires. It was not so much that it had a lot of false statements as much as the way it was written. Taken together the various quotes, and background in the article leaves one with the perception that somehow beetles, as well as wildfires are “out of control” in the West's ecosystems.

Why do we long for snow?

I’m snow hungry.

You know what I mean. You stand in front of your house as the sun sets over the mountains, watching for clouds, testing the wind direction, sniffing the air. You’re like a wolf nosing the atmosphere for the scent of prey, and when you catch it, when your nose tingles with that faint sting of cold-wet you howl and grab your gear and sprint to the high country, hungry for snow.

Update

For more than 20 years, the Mitchell Slough in Montana's Bitterroot Valley has become a showcase of the battle between public access and private property rights and Monday the Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the former.

With a 54-page ruling, the Supreme Court deemed the waterway a natural stream, which means access to it is protected by Montana's stream access law, which is among the strongest in the country. The ruling has been coming for more than two years and overturns two lower-court decisions that had defined the stream the way the Bitterroot Conservation District and several high-profile landowners had advocated it be: Just a ditch.

The case, which has been watched closely across the West as a crucial test of stream access law, has been a long-running extravaganza of protests, celebrity, and political maneuvering but more than that, it has been a spur for complex and often heated discussions on water rights, landownership, what's natural and what's not and most of all, how to square the values of the Old West with the demands of the New.

The Ravalli Republic's Perry Backus has a detailed story on yesterday's ruling here and to catch up on the case and it's implications, Greg Lemon wrote a very good primer for NewWest.Net when the case first went to the high court.

MICROBREW MONTANA

One thing I didn't expect to find when I launched into the Microbrew Montana series was a brewery with a maritime theme. But then, I didn't know about Neptune's Brewery in Livingston, the self-proclaimed "Heart of the Rocky Mountains," and a small market (8,000 population) for a brewery. At Neptune's, everything is about the ocean, ships, sailing and maritime culture and lore--the logo, art, taproom furnishings, beer names, even the owner's only employee, Katrina.

You'd think a brewery in Livingston would feature a ranching or outdoor theme, or maybe even a movie star aura to appeal to all the local stars who have escaped Hollywood and landed in the Paradise Valley. So, of course, I had to ask why.

Missoula Notebook

Considering that hunters are supposed to be a dying breed, there sure were a lot of pickup trucks jammed into the pullouts along route 200 east of Missoula last Tuesday, and a lot of men in camouflage-patterned orange vests standing around next to them.

It was Veteran’s Day, and my neighbor Vin and I were headed out to some Forest Service land near Nine Mile Prairie Road to hunt for deer.

THE CONFESSIONS OF A REGULAR NUT

I'm not a gun nut. I'm a regular nut who owns guns, but only to hunt, not to defend my home and family, join the militia or fight the forces of tyranny.

Gun nuts don't scare or intimidate me. Instead, I'm learning a few things from them. You can, too.

YEAR-ROUND FUN

Imagine this. The Oregon Coast is 383 miles long and every inch of it is public land, which is why's it's called the People's Coast.

For the past four years, in both winter and summer, I've been spending a few weeks each year vacationing on the Oregon Coast, thoroughly enjoying the beach sunsets, hiking, cycling, crabbing and other outdoor activities, and just relaxing, reading few books, and letting the ocean music drown out the stress of living in today's world. It's definitely something you should experience yourself.

As a sampling of what awaits you, here is a chronology of articles I've posted after these trips.

MICROBREW MONTANA

When you go into the Kettle House taproom, which is tucked away on a hard-to-find side street in mid-town Missoula, you find something you see at most Montana microbreweries--a crowd of local folks enjoying good beer and good conversation in their adopted neighborhood pub where it's always "Hoppy Hour." But when you peak into the back room or decide to buy some tasty Kettle House brew at the grocery store, you see something you don't see at or from any other Montana microbrewery, beer cans.

Because Kettle House is the only little Montana brewery that cans.