Around my hometown, as in so much of this quality-of-life Western landscape, there is strong competition for recreational space, and strident discussions about how to allocate that resource. In the debate, an occasional cry for tolerance is expressed, a call for the equable sharing of trails between practitioners of different forms of recreation. Mostly, the […]
Alan Kesselheim
Posted inWotr
Some issues are uncomfortably gray
My opposition to the Holcim Company’s proposal to burn more than one million tires every year at a cement plant at the headwaters of the Missouri River started as a no-brainer. I have three children growing up downwind of that plant. I float those rivers. Several friends work with the advocacy group, Montanans Against Toxic […]
Posted inAugust 18, 2003: Where the Antelope (and the Oil Companies) Play
Everyone needs a place apart
Some years back, Marypat and I bought 20 acres of land in central Montana, two hours from our home in Bozeman. An unremarkable spot — a sandstone bluff, an intermittent creek, ponderosa pines, views of distant peaks. Beyond building an outhouse and a campfire ring, we have done nothing to develop the place. We go […]
Posted inWotr
Everyone needs a place apart
Some years back, Marypat and I bought 20 acres of land in central Montana, two hours from our home in Bozeman. An unremarkable spot–a sandstone bluff, an intermittent creek, ponderosa pines, views of distant peaks. Beyond an outhouse and a campfire ring, we have done nothing to develop the place. We go there as often […]
Posted inWotr
On the road, where everything falls away
There is nothing like being on a road trip, especially a Western road trip. On the road, anything is possible. The rest of life falls away into another dimension. If it isn’t a frontier of possibility, it’s at least a paved ribbon of it. On a trip years ago, I remember stopping in Truth or […]
Posted inWotr
Lewis and Clark: Their footprints are gone
Not long ago I was assigned a story for an outdoor magazine. The idea was to find a small portion of the Lewis and Clark trail that remains relatively unchanged since their storied journey, to go there and immerse myself for a couple of days, following their footsteps, and report on the experience. No problem, […]
Posted inWotr
An eco-wacko figures a few things out
The Gallatin National Forest, in southwestern Montana, recently ended a public comment period for revising its recreation plan, which, among other things, allocates trail use between motorized and non-motorized users. The debate was marked by more editorial spleen-letting and rude outbursts than I’ve seen since Gay Pride marched in Bozeman, years ago. Remember, I live […]
Posted inMarch 27, 2000: The last wild river
A family encounters a conservation quandary
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Andrew Dana considers himself, and the rest of the family partnership which manages a large landholding south of Livingston, to be “dedicated conservationists.” In 1982, his parents put much of their riverbank property into a conservation easement to protect it from future development and […]
Posted inMarch 27, 2000: The last wild river
Property owners call the shots
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. HELENA, Mont. – Most agree that the greatest long-term threat to the integrity of the Yellowstone River is the unregulated development of private property along the banks. “Once a house is built in the floodplain, there is zero tolerance for bank erosion,” said Rob […]
Posted inMarch 27, 2000: The last wild river
An opportunity lost to politics
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. In President Clinton’s 1997 State of the Union Message, he introduced the Heritage Rivers Initiative as a means to address the management issues of 10 notable American waterways, and as a vehicle to provide federal assistance and funding to complement state and regional efforts […]
Posted inMarch 27, 2000: The last wild river
A river divided
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The Upper Yellowstone River currently is in the political hot seat, but that section of the river represents less than one quarter of the river’s 670-mile length. Any approach to management has to address the complete watershed. Yellowstone Park contains much of the headwaters […]