My Page: Tad Sooter

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Planning Against Wal-Mart

Ravalli County Commissioners, after moving meeting venues twice to accommodate a crowd of some 1,300 people, passed a resolution Wednesday to limit the size of new retail stores in the county.

The crowd was overwhelmingly in support of the 60,000-square-foot cap on stores, although some did speak in favor of letting large retailers set up shop.

“It has been a watershed moment in the Bitterroot, with all these people coming out to support a zoning ordinance,” said Russ Lawrence of the Bitterroot Good Neighbors Coalition, a citizen group that supported the proposal. “I think people are just tired of having their futures happen to them. The people who live here and care about what happens here want a hand in their future." [more]

Sustainable Ag

Organic has gone so mainstram it now even has its own major.

Washington State legislature has voted to fund the nation's first organic farming major, offered by Washington State University, Oregon's Capital Press reported. The state will contribute $400,000 to the WSU's Biologically Intensive and Organic Agriculture program, a part of their Center for Sustaining Agriculture and natural resources. Courses will focus on sustainable agriculture, lessening the use of costly chemicals in farming and finding niche ecological markets. [more]

Lecture

Coal bed methane projects in southeast Montana and Wyoming are on are the verge of devastating the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, tribal leader Gail Small said in a lecture at the University of Montana, Tuesday. To prevent the loss of their homeland the Cheyenne need more allies in all Montana communities and more respect from regional government she said. [more]

Getaways: Willamette Valley

Sometimes I just need some rain. Not the sporadic wannabe rain of Missoula, but the kind of constant, soothing downpours that can only be found in Oregon. So I spent my spring break at my mom’s house in the southern Willamette Valley where if it’s not raining, it’s drizzling, even when it’s sunny. There were no MTV crews or beach parties, though there was one day of non-stop firewood splitting action in her backyard. But the lush Willamette was the perfect escape after an endlessly gray Missoula winter.

In the Willamette everything is in shades of green: from the Douglas fir trees to the grassy hills, to the moss on the rooftops. Even the bedraggled sheep have a tint of green in their soggy wool after the long wet winter. Nestled between coast and mountains, the valley is often overlooked by visitors eager to find beaches, snow or California. Those who do stop in enjoy same slow-paced lifestyle my mom, aunt and uncle found when they settled just south of Eugene. For my cousins entertainment is fishing for steelhead, salmon and even catfish in the rivers or hunting sasquatch in the hills at night (a lot of beer and patience required.) [more]

Jon Tester swept into a crowded room at the University of Montana Thursday night, and got straight down to business. No speech – just a question-and-answer session for one-and-a-half hours. The Democrat from Big Sandy, challenging Conrad Burns for his U.S. Senate seat, discussed the wide-ranging concerns of the college-student crowd, with special attention to making education more affordable and useful. [more]

Coal Bed Methane

The Montana Board of Environmental Review rejected proposed rules Thursday that would have forced coal-based methane companies to re-inject wastewater into the ground, but decided that to set standards for allowable contamination levels, the AP reports. The board will wait until September to decide whether to require wastewater treatment. The board made its ruling Thursday afternoon on a petition submitted by a coalition of ranchers, landowners and environmentalists who say methane wells are contaminating irrigation streams and draining groundwater that will be needed in the future. [more]

Grizzly Decision

The Sierra Club announced Thursday the submission of 25,000 public comments opposing the federal government's plan to take Yellowstone grizzlies off of the Endangered Species list in a press conference at the University of Montana. The Sierra Club’s grizzly project manager Heidi Godwin was joined by bear researchers Chuck Jonkel and Margot Higgins, as well as a furry bear mascot, to explain why it is too early to de-list the bears.

The speakers said that while the rise of the Yellowstone grizzly population is promising, more needs to be done to expand habitat and sustain the species. [more]

Blasting for Bucks

Glacier National Park is compiling an Environmental Impact Statement that will determine what the Burlington Santa Fe Railroad should be allowed to do inside the park to minimize avalanche danger to an 11-mile stretch of rail near the park’s southern border. Some worry that the new guidelines might give way to the use of ecologically disruptive explosives inside the park. [more]

Growing Pains

While other Montana communities are fighting to keep big box stores from expanding, Ravalli County is developing a proactive plan that could keep them from setting up shop in the first place.

On Feb. 28, Ravalli County Commissioners voted unanimously to draft an interim resolution that would limit retail building size with the intent of maintaining the character and culture of the Bitterroot Valley. The temporary ordinance, which could be drafted and voted on within two months, would put a 60,000-square-foot limit on new retail buildings. [more]

Growing Pains

No matter where you live in western Montana, it’s a good bet that at least part of what you flush down your toilet is going to end up in a river or reservoir. How it gets there can be the difference between clean or skuzzy water.

The dramatic impact of nutrients on our ground and surface water makes septic use a dynamic measure of growth, showing not only how fast a region is growing, but how well it is prepared to manage growth to protect water quality.

Septic systems, dotted across rural parts of Montana and clustered in subdivisions on the outskirts of towns, are a quiet threat to water. Neglected systems leak their smelly contents, and poorly placed drainfields can flood or fail to filter properly. This nutrient-rich soup seeps into groundwater – and eventually rivers like the Clark Fork, where it fertilizes dense algae blooms that can stagnate water and impede the river’s flow. [more]

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