Wilderness Deflected

NREPA: New York Times Praises Wilderness Act, Unfortunately?

A New York Times editorial today calls for the passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, saying it's a "truly enlightened environmental policy" that would balance "the needs of both nature and local economies." So what's the problem?

Foes already complain the bill is an elite Easterner's idea being foisted on the West. And no matter how misguided it might be, the "you ain't from aroun' here, are ya?" backlash can be fierce.

An anti-NREPA Facebook group by today's count has 3,090 members. (Not pulling any punches, it's called Don't Mess With the West: Oppose Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.)

Bones of Contention

Beloved Dino Museum to Close its Doors, Shutting Down the Public

Revolution rages in Tehran and the world is transfixed by millions of Iranians demanding free speech. Laramie, Wyoming is light years away from the Islamic world, but amid charges of repression of free speech and totalitarian decisions, a revolt is gaining momentum against the University of Wyoming (UW) trustees -- and its emblematic martyr is Big Al, the Allosaurus.

Facing an $18.3 million budget shortfall, UW decided to close the school’s Geological Museum in response to the state of Wyoming’s mandated 10 percent budget cuts. The museum will close to the public July 1; its director and assistant are among the people who will lose their jobs as a result.

Big Al -- whose incredibly-preserved bones greet museum visitors -- will become a recluse. Some researchers may be able to see him, but not the public. The same goes for other museum prizes, including one of the only mounted skeletons of an Apatosaurus (or Brontosaurus, as it was formerly called).

Western Wine Adventures

Idaho’s Indian Creek: 2008 Winery of the Year

The Year of Drinking Locally by Alan Minskoff

Dubbed the godfather of Idaho wine industry, Bill Stowe, the founder and longtime winemaker at Indian Creek, has influenced some of the state’s most significant vintners and grape growers. Brad Pintler, longtime winemaker at his own winery and subsequently at Sawtooth, and Greg Koenig, who creates his own wines and is the winemaker for 3 Horse and Williamson, both worked at Indian Creek.

An Idaho native and Air Force veteran, Stowe traces his interest in grape growing and wine making to a stint in Germany. There he learned about the art of creating handcrafted wines while in the service. He even worked a couple of crushes and the seeds were sown for his passionate pursuit of making wines in his home state.

In the 80s Bill and his wife Mui bought more than 20 acres in Kuna while he was stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base. As the story goes, he drove the same red International Harvester tractor that he still rides up from Mountain Home to his vineyard near Indian Creek. That was a quarter of a century ago.

Beyond the Photos, the Real Magic of Crow Fair

This year during one of the daily parades at Crow Fair, the annual powwow and rodeo held along the Little Big Horn River on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana, one of my mothers-in-law yelled combatively at a professional photographer who planted himself between her and one of her grandchildren on parade.

"Hey, get out of the way," she hollered. "We're taking pictures, too."

The guy knelt down and kept shooting film.

Amateur Historian Produces History of Old West All-Indian Battle

A amateur Crow historian has completed a history of a pivotal -- and mystical -- all-Indian battle in which his tribe defended its homeland.

The historian is Elias Goes Ahead, a storyteller and lifelong historian.

"I was brought up among natural historians," Goes Ahead told me at a table amidst teepees and cottonwoods at an encampment at Crow Fair, his tribe's annual powwow near Crow Agency on the sprawling reservation of the same name south of Billings. "Ever since I was a little boy, they told me stories, passed on their knowledge to me because I was the one who listened."

Fuel Prices and Recreation

High Gas Slows Good Times on the Lake

Water recreation has slowed. Instead of ripping across the water, with skiers in tow, boat owners and renters are coasting and drifting to save gas and money.

Owners of RV parks, boat and boat-slip renters - and other business owners who derive their livelihood from the tourist season on Flathead Lake - also say they see fewer cars with out-of-state license plates and more Canadian license plates (due to the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar to the Canadian loon)

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.

Boise office will close

Another Sign of Tamarack’s Troubles

The Boise office of Tamarack Resort will close this week, according to reports from KBCI, the Idaho Statesman and others.

The Valley County resort, led by CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug, is in financial crisis after Credit Suisse foreclosed on a $250 million loan for which payments had stopped. Boespflug and his partner declared bankruptcy.

Independent contractors have filed at least 20 liens against the resort to recover their unpaid bills. There is now no construction active at Tamarack.

Boespflug told the Statesman that about 20 employees are affected by the closing.

Credit Crunch Hits the New West

Tamarack Resort Owners File for Bankruptcy Protection

The majority owners of tony Tamarack Resort in west-central Idaho, owing more than $300 million to lenders and international banks, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boise late last week.

According to Tamarack Resort CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug, the Chapter 11 filing will have no impact on the resort's day-to-day operation. "You can continue to do business with Tamarack Resort in a complete and normal way," he said in an interview.

The two companies named in the filings are VPG Investments, Inc. and Cross Atlantic Real Estate, LLC, which own 27 and 48 percent of Tamarack Resort shares respectively. Boespflug owns Cross Atlantic Real Estate, and VPG is owned by Mexican businessman and resort co-founder Alfredo Miguel Afif.

Boespflug said the resort was counting on a $118 million dollar loan from the French bank Société Générale to complete the resort village, but the financing fell through. Société Générale is reeling from the loss of some $7 billion in a trading scandal, and banks around the world are pulling back from many types of loans in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and related problems in the finance world.