Last year I wrote a series of articles about concerns voiced by Montana hunters about Cabela's Trophy Properties, the real estate marketing division of the world's largest retailer of hunting, fishing and camping gear, Cabela's.

Facing a rapid decline in access to both private and public land, the last thing Montana hunters needed was "one of their own," Cabela's, to launch headlong into the amenity real estate business and further speed up the loss of huntable land.

Fueled by the state's largest sporting group, the 7,000-member-strong Montana Wildlife Federation, the issue became white-hot controversial. The MWF even asked its members to return their catalogs to Cabela's with letters protesting the new venture. Hundreds of them did exactly that and, suddenly, hunters had the company's big-time attention and promises to do what it could to smooth out the ruffled feathers.

But did the firestorm really change anything? Or a year later, is Cabela's Trophy Properties (CTP) doing business as usual? [more]

Boise Events

Date night in Boise on Nov. 7 should bring out a crowd of outdoorsy types typical of ski towns. It’s the fourth annual Backcountry Film Festival, hosted by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, which will feature “inspirational and thought-provoking films from grassroots filmmakers that will inform you about backcountry and environmental issues as well as entertain you with exceptional skiing,” according to WW’s Jeff Cole.

WWA’s signature fundraising event is organized each year to promote human-powered winter sports such as backcountry and Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and winter hiking and camping, as well as to raise awareness of WWA’s work on issues affecting quiet winter ecosystems.

The film program is a combination of short films and longer films, which emphasize the pleasures of quiet, untracked snow, the excitement of steep descents and the ingenuity of wind-powered snow recreation - all captured through the unique vision of grassroots filmmakers. [more]

guest commentary

Perched like a vulture on a snag, the threat of mountain bikes in National Parks stares down on the fraying edges and core of our National Parks and the dream and vision of what National Parks can and ought to be. Over the years, mostly years in which mountain bikes were nothing but a worrisome blot poking over the horizon, the vast majority of the American people came to see and believe that National Parks could be enjoyed by walking the trails or riding the paved roads, whether on your bike or in your Chevy. Americans came to that understanding along with some parallel understanding that National Parks were mostly natural areas. Not only are they a delight to lay eyes on, but they protect what Americans vaguely understand to be ecological integrity; things like clean air, native wildlife, plants, all mixed into a largely protected landscape. [more]

Generation Recreation with Michael Pearlman

A couple of early season snowstorms in the Bighorn Mountains was all it took to launch my ski season.

Even my friends who ride their bicycles in January can't understand why I'm committed to skiing in less-than-ideal October conditions. Even I have trouble explaining it to those who lack my devotion, except to say that it's become a rite of passage. The quest for early season turns, no matter how involved the effort or limited the reward, has become an established fall tradition. [more]

the new west conference

When it comes to the muddy waters of streamside setback proposals, this much is clear: Montanans love their rivers, and Montanans love their private property rights. Yet as more people move into the state and new development crowds the river corridors, this raises a dilemma. Protecting one may come at the cost of the other.

“People are loving these rivers and streams to death,” said Hal Harper, Chief Policy Advisor to Governor Brian Schweitzer. “They are holding them and hugging them too closely. It’s like a loving relationship where a person smothers a new spouse.”

Harper spoke in favor of some form of statewide stream setback standards during a panel discussion during New West’s 3rd annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies in Missoula, Mont. on Friday. He argued that science-based uniform statewide standards with proper variance procedures to evaluate individual pieces of property are necessary to protect the health of a river, public health and safety, the quality of life that attracts so many people to Montana and personal privacy from river users. [more]

the new west conference

The perceived rate of sale of Plum Creek Timber Company timberlands in Montana to private recreational buyers and for residential subdivision has elicited widespread public concern, lands that for generations have provided well-paying jobs, public recreation and wildlife habitat.

Plum Creek President and CEO Rick Holley took great pains to allay these concerns during his keynote presentation at NewWest.Net’s 3rd Annual Real Estate and Development conference Friday morning.

“We converted to a (Real Estate Investment Trust) in 1999 merely to access capital and to grow more efficiently,” Holley said. “We think of ourselves today as a land and timber company.” [more]

Phyllis Erck's small office in downtown Missoula has a poster-sized photo of the smiling face of her son Billy Poole.

Last January 22nd, at 28, Billy skied a line down Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City, as a Warren Miller Entertainment film crew captured the scene. Billy jumped a cliff, something he had done many times before. This time he hit a small boulder. A short while later, he was dead -- the first skier to die in the production of a Warren Miller ski film.

That moment has become a fulcrum in Phyllis' life. There was the time before, and there is now. His death has tinted every moment, every conversation his mother can recall having had with her son, especially those times - usually when he talked to his mother via cell phone - after he had brushed against his own mortality in the pursuit of his dream to ski as a professional. [more]

Before I launch once more into the endless mountain biker vs. hiker controversy, I want to reaffirm that I'm still not a mountain biker. I commute around town on paved streets on my mountain bike, but it has never been on a trail.

Even though you could say I don't have a dog in the fight, I have to ask, why do we have so much heartburn over the proposed rule to allow mountain biking on more trails in our national parks? Is this really worth the stress it creates? [more]

I had a telling conversation with an old friend several months ago, a devoted environmentalist who's a community college biology teacher living south of San Francisco in a pleasant small town abutting the Pacific. I don't recall how it came up, but she declared, "We've just got to get more people out of their cars." Then came a pregnant pause, followed by her admission that of course, because of where they lived and worked and their packed daily schedules, she and her husband drove themselves and their children everywhere.

I've been thinking about this lately because, well, the roads are still chock full of cars and trucks, and despite an uptick in transit and bicycle use, traffic is still congested here in metro Seattle, and metro regions nationwide. [more]

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

There are many good reasons given for establishing more designated wilderness in the United States. Wilderness designation preserves important ecological features and ecological processes. They can serve as fountainheads for our rivers and drinking supplies. Wilderness lands can provide us a place to recreation, relax, reflect, physically and mentally challenge ourselves. These are all valid reasons for preserving wilderness, and any of them alone would be sufficient reason to support wildlands preservation.

But there is yet another reason to support wilderness designation for the country. [more]