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BorderWest/Part Two: A Conversation with Nathan Small

Las Cruces is surprisingly diverse. Academics, ranchers, farmers, retirees, military personnel, technocrats, all call it home. Bringing this many different types of people in the name of any cause would be tough. In a name as controversial as wilderness, even tougher. So, he did what he knew best. He took them to see the land, to see what he thought needed protecting. He planned hikes and invited those he needed to reach. A coalition of unlikely comrades was formed: the League of Women’s Voters and sportsmen, the backcountry horsemen and the home builders association. Concessions were made, lines were adjusted, but a coalition had formed behind the Citizen's Proposal. [more]

This Land Is Their Land

I spent a couple of days this week wandering about the cranes – construction types, not winged ones – in Vail, which is undergoing a series of redevelopment projects that will total a couple of billion dollars when all finished. Among the projects going in is a mini-development of 13 chalets at the base of the mountain, each of which cost an average of $14 million – and all of which sold overnight, sight unseen.

Also coming soon to Vail, which already has a reputation as a playground for the super-rich, is a Ritz-Carlton styled after the grand residences of Europe. You and I won’t be able to stay in this Ritz – it’s all condos, each of which is priced in the multi-millions. [more]

Real Estate News

If you're thinking the housing bubble in Missoula, and Montana, will somehow remain full of air, think again. The situation is probably worse than you think. Median home prices, as recorded by real estate organizations, have been relatively stable, but some indicators suggest a downturn could be just around the corner.

Why? Because homes have been sitting on the market for months and months, while sellers have begun to slowly lower their asking prices. A rash of foreclosures may force prices down, which will greatly increase the downward pressure on all home prices. [more]

blog: ON RIVERS AND RANCHING

The ranch is green and the roads are potholed from spring rain. Coming to work from the little house I rent outside of Deer Lodge, I drive a county road that looks down across the western end of the property—a floodplain ditched for haying and bisected by the linked bows of the Clark Fork River. Unplowed strips grow thick with willow and cottonwood. Whitetail deer graze on new shoots in the meadows. Their heads come up as I pass and drop again before I am out of sight. Hawks drift above it all, and though I know they are hunting I never see them dive. Our small bunch of heifers grazes together, strikingly red against the rest of spring.

Down by the river on a clear June morning, this place seems simple, pastoral and beautiful. Irrigation hides the land’s scars, making it easy to get the wrong impression of the ranch, or at least an incomplete one. [more]

Real Estate News

Dave Eacret calls it the "echo effect."

That's his term for what's softening the real estate market in the quality-of-life zones of the Mountain West, including Montana, North Idaho and other non-urban markets in the region. Home prices have leveled, and in some cases declined slightly, as in Missoula, where recent numbers from the Missoula Organization of Realtors shows price declines in April and May, compared to the same months a year ago. [more]

When can a community afford to say no?

A moratorium on all new 20-acres or more development applications in Teton County, Wyoming until Dec. 31, 2008 has left a litigious air in the majestic Jackson Hole Valley.

Teton Meadows Ranch filed a lawsuit last week to reverse the moratorium, which was approved by commissioners one day prior to the development’s scheduled hearing.

The moratorium has essentially killed their 500-unit, 288-acre development in South Park, 4miles south of Jackson, which contained the condition to rezone the rural 50-home zoning allotment — a density 10 times more than is currently allowed. Many residents began “emergency” conversation with the commission in March when two additional projects, both in the South Park area, submitted plans for rezoning to allow 614-units, a total of over 1,000 new residences projected in the area.

Jackson faces a tough challenge of how and where to grow. Overflow from Teton County, Wyoming over Teton Pass into Teton County, Idaho has become rampant. [more]

A Small Town VS Big Development

The City of Telluride, Colorado is rejoicing this week after a Supreme Court 6-1 ruling found the condemnation of 572-acre Valley Floor lawful and within the city's jurisdiction.

This stretch of red-carpet open space that leads into Telluride is a decade-old battle that shows what a little town with a large motive can do in the face of big development.

After the town condemned the open space acreage under the Colorado Constitutional right for a city municipalities use of eminent domain, the developer Neal Blue and the San Miguel Valley Corporation worked on passing the “Telluride Amendment” to HB1203 in the 2004 Colorado Legislature term that made it unlawful to allow this kind of acquisition and condemnation outside city boundaries. [more]

New West Book Excerpt

Courtney White's new book Revolution on the Range (Island Press, $25.95) seeks common ground between the goals of Western ranchers and environmentalists. White reports on individuals who are working to end the "tribal warfare between denizens of the 'Old' West and advocates of the 'New,' with lassos on one side, and lattes on the other." Publishers Weekly wrote, "In a time when environmental reporting has become justifiably gloomy, this book is a refreshing breath of pragmatic optimism." In the following prologue, White introduces the ideas that fuel his book.

In 1996, I had an anguished question on my mind: why didn’t environmentalists and ranchers get along better? In theory they shared many of the same hopes and fears—a love of wildlife, a deep respect for nature, an appreciation for a life lived outdoors, and a common concern for healthy water, food, fiber, and liberty. [more]

ONE PLUM CREEK IS ALREADY TOO MUCH

A few weeks ago, down at the saloon, where I regularly get lots of advice about what to write about, I heard about the major western Montana landowner traditionally only interested in timber management but now changing its focus to real estate development.

Everybody already knows about Plum Creek, I replied.

But they weren't talking about Plum Creek Timber Company, the largest private landowner in the USA, and it's now-notorious plan to become the largest real estate developer in the USA. They were worrying about the State of Montana becoming "another Plum Creek."

And it wasn't just bar talk. [more]

From The New West Blog

The USDA today announced that it will authorize 24 million acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, about 65 percent, to be grazed or hayed for "critical feed" for livestock.

The agency cites rising crop prices, high demand for feed and steep competition for acres as its reasons for opening up the CRP lands, which it estimates will generate 18 million tons of feed worth $1.2 billion.

The program, which pays landowners to take their land out of production for 10-15 years to restore habitat, curb erosion and improve water quality, is hailed as the largest public-private conservation effort in the country. But, it has its criticisms and this new program highlights, in my mind, the most pressing one with one little provision: "The most environmentally-sensitive land enrolled in CRP" will not be allowed to be grazed or hayed.

So, 24 million acres in a program meant to rehab delicate farm land aren't environmentally sensitive enough to be left alone? [more]

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