As the fallout from the housing crash continues to reverberate on Wall Street, Montana banks have been re-appraising balance sheets, taking another hard look at collateral and reassuring Main Street businesses, which have begun to feel the economic slump.

"All the stuff that's happened… doesn’t affect but a handful of banks in the state, if any," said Michael Richards, president of Bank of Bozeman, who was referring to the collapse of the investment firm Lehman Brothers and the $85 billion bailout of the international insurance group and financial services company AIG.

The real estate collapse, basically, is what dragged down those two companies, as well as investment firm Merrill Lynch. [more]

Where do we go from here?

Sprawl and growth management are subjects that need dialogue in Montana, as our landscape changes and our towns become cities.

This Friday in Helena, the Montana Smart Growth Coalition will be hosting its 5th annual Big Sky Big Sprawl conference at Carroll College on Friday, September 19th.

In the morning, discussions topics will include: transportation and land use, financing of affordable housing, wildlife habitat and corridors, and rural landscape development practices, to name a few.

And in the afternoon, sessions with take these topics into more hands-on, small group-oriented workshops. Click here for more information.
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If you float down the Clark Fork River for three hours from Missoula, Montana you’ll come to the charred remains of Harper’s Bridge. An emblem of folly, like all ruins, this one stands for the ludicrous attempt by private landowners to keep the rest of us away from the water.

I started hanging out here in the 1960s, when I moved to Missoula to dodge the draft by enrolling in college, a strategy that worked till it didn’t.

I squandered many hours flailing around with my frat brothers in the deep holes, jumping off the bridge, and trying to convince our Kappa Kappa Gamma dates that these bright beaches were topless. [more]

Headwater Summit, Sept. 15-17

Local author David James Duncan will speak about what you can do about climate change in his keynote address for the free two-day Headwaters Summit in Missoula, hosted by the Clark Fork Coalition, Western Progress and the National Wildlife Federation.

Duncan's talk will be (did I mention that it will be free?) Monday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at the University Theater at the University of Montana campus. Afterward, the Clark Fork Coalition will hold a cocktail reception at its office, 140 S. 4th St. W. (The nonprofit, in my experience, does a great job hosting parties.) [more]

Country Roads May Not Take Them Home

According to a story in the Helena Independent Record, the Glen Ranch, slated to be a 2,599-lot subdivision, is projected to increase the population of City of Three Forks by threefold. But the developer's bankruptcy filed this week will decelerate the proposed two golf courses, new water and sewer facilities, and town center.

And it all came down to who pays for the road improvements, reports writer Marga Lincoln.

Broadwater County Commissioners required Steve and Susie Cavanaugh to pay for the road improvements surrounding the development as a condition to approval. With an outstanding bill of $258,399, the commissioners rescinded subdivision approval in February 2008, and barred Rolling Glen from selling or transferring lots or homes, the story says. [more]

A workshop on the cleanup and reuse of brownfields will be held today, Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Missoula City Council Chambers at 140 W. Pine St. and, in the afternoon, at the Missoula County Courthouse less than a block away at 200 W. Broadway, rooms 201 and 374.

Anyone interested is welcome to attend, including local officials, developers, landowners, bankers, lenders, community leaders, attorneys and consultants as well as the general public or anyone who fits some, all or none of the labels mentioned above. (Registration is $25 and can be done online or in person at 8 a.m. at the Council Chambers.) [more]

Edra Blixseth and the other top owner of the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky have retained an Arizona-based company to manage the private club and complete its long-overdue construction projects, according to an item on PR-inside.com.

Over the past year and more, the Yellowstone Club, the world's only private skiing and golf community, has been in and out of the news, thanks to the public divorce of owners Tim and Edra Blixseth as well as legal battles between owners and Tim Blixseth. Also, the club missed loan payments to creditor Credit Suisse and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Earlier this year, Edra won control of the club and vowed to get its overdue construction back on track and to keep its business out of the public eye. [more]

Public Lands

The Bush Administration and conservation groups have reached a compromise agreement on rules governing roadless areas in the state, reports the New York Times. The deal involves the much-contested rules that Clinton Administration put in place banning road-building and other development on federal lands that don't already have roads - rules that were then reversed by the Bush Administration and have been the subject of a convoluted legal battle ever since. The Idaho compromise allows some road-building to log burned areas, and opens up some acreage for development in exchange for continued protection of most roadless areas, according to the Times.

News of Note

Wyoming's oil and gas industry is responsible for one in five jobs in the state and about one-third of the state's total economic output, according to a report detailed in today's Casper Star-Tribune

Business editor Tom Mast rounds up the highlights of the report, most of which confirm that while the direct economics of the industry are predictable, the "downstream" effects are even more staggering than one might expect.

As one investigator says, "It shows vulnerabilities associated with oil and gas in that it's such a large portion of Wyoming's economy." [more]

guest commentary

What is it about Lolo Peak that stirs the emotions of so many people? Maybe it’s the beauty and comfort we find gazing from the vehicle or kitchen window, reminding us why we live and work here. Perhaps it is the memories of family hikes or winter excursions, or the fabulous close-to-home white-tail and elk hunting.

One thing's for sure: thousands of western Montana citizens are concerned that this great place on our public lands might be sliced and diced so that a handful of people can make millions on real estate. Lolo Peak is already serving a useful economic, ecological and social purpose -- in its current condition. [more]