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Ameya Preserve, Part II

Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a series about the proposed Ameya Preserve development near Livingston, Montana. (Click here to read Part I, click here for Part III, here for Part IV and here for Part V.

For all the talk surrounding the Ameya Preserve, the new luxury development in Montana's Paradise Valley, the project is only in its initial stages and little is formally finalized. Developer Wade Dokken and his team received preliminary plat approval for Phase One in 2006 but have yet to submit a final plat application. As it stands, Phase One will consist of 203 acres and will include 59 homesites as well as a central village area with 35,000 square feet of community buildings including a main lodge, a nature center, an arts center, a children’s barn and a chapel.

There are no details yet on any of the other phases, which the developers indicate will bring about 250 more homes to the property. The future of two sections of state land within Ameya property remains unresolved, and no land has yet been put into a conservation easement.

But an extensive design and planning process, which Ameya says sets it apart from other large rural developments, is well underway. Two Colorado-based businesses - Design Workshop and Michael Claffey Ecological Consulting – have produced plans going well beyond what's required of a Montana subdivision.
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Ameya Preserve, Part I

Editor's Note: This is the first installment of a series about the proposed Ameya Preserve development near Livingston, Montana. (Click here to read Part II, click here for Part III, here for Part IV and here for Part V.

Fifty miles north of Yellowstone National Park, in Montana’s aptly named Paradise Valley, an ambitious North Dakota native and Wall Street millionaire named Wade Dokken is planning a unique luxury home community called the Ameya Preserve.

Unlike its brethren around the Rocky Mountain West, the Ameya Preserve will have no fancy golf course, no private ski hill, no Prada boutiques or mega-mansions behind high walls. Instead, there will be lots of wildlife, open space, energy efficient houses, and a host of cultural amenities of a decidedly high-brow ilk.

Dokken makes a rather bold claim: “I’m not a developer,” he says. “I’m a conservationist.” He touts his credentials as a liberal Democrat, and says the 300-plus-home Ameya Preserve, set on 9,500 acres of pristine ranchland, will be nothing less than "the most sustainable community ever built."

In crucial respects, though, the Ameya Preserve project shares a great deal with other ultra-luxury developments in Montana and around the region. It promises to be an economic engine for the town of Livingston and surrounding Park County, just as the Yellowstone Club in nearby Big Sky has driven the economy of Gallatin County. It's being marketed to wealthy people around the world who will likely spend only a few months or weeks a year there (a lot at Ameya was the most expensive gift in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, at a cool $2 million).

And Ameya has spurred emotional opposition from many locals. Some are upset at what they regard as misleading and hypocritical promises about conservation. Others are opposed to the proposed sale to Ameya of state lands that lie within the property. Still others decry the very idea of such a development taking place in the midst of rich wildlife habitat. But at the heart of the matter are complex and conflicted feelings about what kind of place Montana is, what it is becoming and who is bringing the change.

"My fear is, Paradise Valley is going to be turned into one great big development area," says local rancher and Park County Commissioner Jim Durgan. "There aren't many neighbors left. Let's put it that way." [more]

Old and Faithful Debate

The interior of Yellowstone National Park opens for the winter season today amid--surprise--much controversy surrounding the limits on snowmobiles allowed in the park per day. The Park Service's Final Rule implements a long-term winter use plan for Yellowstone, which will allow up to 720 commercially guided Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles per day this season and 540 per day next season. The Wyoming attorney general office filed a petition for review of the winter-use plan soon after its release.

Wyoming officials say, even though the average number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone per day averaged 250 for the last three years, next season's cap of 540 is still too low. Environmentalists say the cap should be reduced even further. Yellowstone's wildlife denizens are largely silent on the issue.

In their petition, Wyoming officials decried requiring commercial guides for all snowmobile trips and also requested a "reasoned analysis" for changes made to management of avalanche-prone Sylvan Pass, which--thanks to helicopters and howitzers--will remain open to motorized oversnow travel this winter, presumably to the delight of Wyoming residents.

More on the most peaceful season to explore Yellowstone National Park after the jump. [more]

Bear Hair and Genetic Diversity

The Montana State University-based Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team is conducting a crucial study on the genetics and migration patterns of grizzlies in the Northern Rockies. The MSU team collected samples of grizzly hair in the Yellowstone Ecosystem and will soon send the samples to the British Colombia-based Wildlife Genetics International for evaluation.

According to Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team Director Chuck Schwartz, a major goal of the study is to "determine if bears from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem migrate to the Yellowstone."

The Department of Interior delisted grizzlies from the Endangered Species Act in March 2007. The controversial move came as Yellowstone's grizzlies face increasing pressures from dwindling habitat and critical food sources, particularly Whitebark Pine seeds, which are in decline across the Yellowstone Ecosystem. Researchers hope the new study will reveal important information about the genetic diversity and health of grizzlies across the Northern Rockies. [more]

The Time of Their Lives (Again)

However perfect or awful one’s prom may have been, the Bozeman Adult Prom proves that with enough willing, nostalgic partners, it’s never too late to experience the big night all over again. For those who never graced the dimly lit gymnasium floor in high school, the Adult Prom provides a perfect chance to unleash those pent up dance moves and ultra-cool attitudes buried deep inside for so long.

The original adult prom went down at a Bozeman house party. The event soon got so big that founder Phil Baribeau had to move the dance to its present home, the Eagles Lodge in downtown Bozeman. After Baribeau moved, current organizers Caitlin Magbee and Julianne Scuman happily took the helm of the prom committee.

The 2007 Adult Prom was unforgettable. There were corsages, crimped hairdos and hairsprayed bangs. There were flasks, frilled shirts, Max Headroom sunglasses and mascara-smeared faces. Glittery bodies grooved to synthesizer beats, and best of all, there was plenty of making out and no chaperones to stop it.

Click here or on the image to view photos from this very special night. [more]

Interagency Bison Management Plan

Bison are powerful American icons and stir deep emotions in many different people. The Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) meeting in Bozeman last Tuesday night was testament to this; dreadlocks and cowboy hats commingled as officials from federal and state agencies presented an update on the IBMP and answered an array of questions on what they predicted the coming winter would hold for Yellowstone’s bison.

In panel discussions and public discussion sessions with the IBMP’s five signatory agencies, officials had one overarching message: all agencies would be fully implementing the IBMP this winter, including – if necessary – the costly and controversial practices of hazing and slaughtering bison who wander out of the park.

Bison, elk and many other mammals carry the disease brucellosis, which showed up in a Montana cattle herd this summer. Though the Department of Livestock (DOL) says the transmission likely came from elk, if another cattle herd tests positive before May 2009 Montana will lose its brucellosis free status, and the DOL will not be taking any chances with bison. [more]

Power Politics or Reigning in Government?

Not long ago, Tim Watson led a successful petition campaign to suspend Park County’s first growth policy and put it to an up-or-down vote in 2008. Now, Watson is leading another petition, this time to unseat Commissioner Larry Lahren.

In the accepted petition proposal, Watson and attorney Mark Hartwig accuse Lahren of admittedly failing to keep commission minutes and failing to provide notice of commission meetings. Lahren says his commission was working to correct inherited problems and he attributes the petition to “power politics” and outstanding grudges over issues involving the growth policy and county refuse.

Though Watson insists the recall petition is unrelated, it is hard to ignore the overarching and contentious issue of balancing zoning and planning with private property rights in this rapidly growing rural county.

Such a confrontation is not the only one occurring in similar Western counties. [more]

Weekend Essay

Montana’s scenic highways are world-renowned and with good reason; expansive prairie, precarious mountain passes, narrow river canyons and rolling hills all provide unparalleled drives across Montana’s 147,000 square miles. Highway 89—which runs from the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park all the way north to Glacier National Park and the Port of Piegan—is the quintessential Montana highway.

Montana’s section of road is also part of the legendary U.S. Highway 89, which extends from Mexico to Canada and also connects Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon, Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks. Though no longer really marketed as a park-to-park route or an international route, strong state and federal marketing campaigns in the 40s and 50s sold Highway 89 as a world-class route through the heart of the Rocky Mountain West. For anyone who has traveled this road, it still is.

Click here or on the photo above to view David Nolt's photo essay on Highway 89. [more]

Counting Blessings

For over seven years, Rev. Paul Thomas has tirelessly provided Bozeman’s homeless and down-and-out with a meal, a cup of coffee, clothing, company and any other kind of help he can through his mobile soup kitchen named HIS Soup. Thomas’ white Econoline van and those who flock to it are fixtures on the east and north parts of a town that has never had an official homeless shelter or mission. This month Thomas received a permit to create a historic rescue mission in the very same place he serves his complimentary home-cooked Thanksgiving meals.

Not so long ago, Bozeman police used to “float” homeless residents and transients by buying them a ticket on the next Greyhound out of town. City officials say they haven’t floated anyone for many years, but when a homeless man froze to death in a U-haul truck here last winter, the homeless issue became hard to ignore and elicited a strong community response.

Bozeman, “the most livable place,” is the only major city in Montana to not have a homeless shelter or rescue mission, but thanks to Thomas and his supporters, this is about to change. [more]

Two Bozeman Shows Saturday

You have to love the indie music community and the speed at which unassuming but talented, dedicated musicians can rise through its ranks. Take, for example, Band of Horses: Ben Bridwell moves from South Carolina to Seattle where he at one point becomes happily homeless, works at the legendary Crocodile Café, plays in an obscure band for awhile, forms a new band with fellow southerners, joins longtime friend Sam Beam of Iron & Wine at a Subpop Records dinner and within months has a record deal. And not only has a record deal, but also goes on to produce a really, really good album that everybody loves.

Such is the life now of Ben Bridwell and Band of Horses. The band just released another great album—Cease to Begin—and are in the first stages of a tour that will take them to Bozeman this Saturday and then across the U.S. and Europe.

Bridwell’s Southern sentiment and love of straightforward rock and roll render a decidedly simple, gritty, guitar-driven sound, and his echoing, sheer voice cuts to the chase of his words. On Cease to Begin, Bridwell fully takes the sound formed in Seattle back to his Southern roots. [more]

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