Western Politics

On January 5, 2009, I was a participant in a march on behalf of the wild buffalo population in Yellowstone National Park, animals who have been denied year round habitat in the state of Montana. The action, sponsored by Buffalo Field Campaign and Buffalo Allies of Bozeman, was in Helena and was targeted at the swearing in of the state legislature and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, under whose watch the greatest wild buffalo slaughter since the 19th century has happened. It was in support of the Montana Wild Buffalo Recovery & Conservation Act of 2009, which calls for shifting management of wild bison from the Montana Department of Livestock to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks so that bison are managed as wild bison instead of as animals in need of disease control. During the action, about 15 activists from West Yellowstone, Bozeman, Missoula, and Helena were able to get inside the capitol rotunda with signs that read, "Stop the Slaughter" and "Stop the B.S. = Buffalo Slaughter = Brian Schweitzer." Reporters took our pictures, filmed us, and wrote articles about it. This essay, however, is about the metrics for success of that action.

It seems not many people want to be real estate agents anymore, and established agents are getting out of the business like never before. About 40 percent fewer new real estate agents received a license from the Montana Board of Realty Regulation in 2008, and about 15 percent of old members didn't renew last year, said Grace Berger, head of the state's regulatory agency. Here are the numbers: Last year about 500 new applicants passed the requirements to become a real estate agent in Montana, down from about 800 in 2007. That year capped about a decade of growth in the number of licensed agents in Montana.

Three bites in food and ag news today: Sustainable ag gurus Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry write in the New York Times about the nation's need for a 50-year Farm Bill that "addresses forthrightly the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil-fuel dependency and the destruction of rural communities." Among others, the two offer this suggestion: "Any restorations will require, above all else, a substantial increase in the acreages of perennial plants. The most immediately practicable way of doing this is to go back to crop rotations that include hay, pasture and grazing animals." Meanwhile, Tom Vilsack, the guy who should be charged with reforming the nation's food system, has a building fan club as he awaits his new gig as the Secretary of Agriculture. But, Tom Philpott at Gristmill wonders why he would need a push: "The effort strikes me as bizarre. Why band together to support someone who's a shoo-in to be confirmed? Vilsack is no firebrand reformer; his nomination will generate little controversy in the Senate." And, the Christian Science Monitor profiles a Bozeman-area ranching family who is starting the food revolution at home. Writer Corrine Garcia tells a nice story about Jenny and Mark Sabo, who she calls, "extreme locavores."

One of my favorite tidbits from the opening of Montana's 61st Legislative session, from Charles Johnson's story in Lee Newspapers: "... the Senate's sergeant at arms, Nancy Clark, reminded lawmakers that much of the session will be televised publicly across the state. Don't scratch any place that you don't want anybody to see, because you are on television, she said." Watch for scratching -- or watch public policy in action, your choice -- here: Online streaming page. Channel list for TVMT, which will be broadcasting all session. (Missoula is channel 62)

Idaho Governor Butch Otter today named state senator Brad Little as Lieutenant Governor, replacing Jim Risch who was sworn in as U.S. Senator just an hour earlier. The appointment takes effect immediately, but there will be pro forma confirmation by the state senate. Little has long been considered a potential candidate for governor in political circles, and is considered a moderate Republican.

Not only will be 2008 be remembered as a watershed year in world history, but last year was especially dramatic for my personal life as well. Obama's election is the obvious high water mark, but there were several other achievements and toe-stubbings that I will always associate with 2008. So here is my obligatory recap of the Best and Worst of 2008. I already have a big jump on next year's list: Worst Idea of 2009: Bob Wire writing a blog about breastfeeding.

With the withdrawal of Bill Richardson and the appointment of Michael Bennet, the Mountain West may have lost one politician on the national stage and gained another.

It's a big day in Idaho politics. In Boise, Governor Butch Otter will announce his pick to replace Jim Risch as Lieutenant Governor. In Washington, D.C., Risch will be sworn in today as the newest senator from Idaho, replacing Larry Craig. And Walt Minnick will be sworn in as a congressman representing the First Congressional District, replacing Bill Sali. At Minnick's new kinda yucky apartment, his family will finish up their three days of scrubbing walls and finding used furniture, unpacking things from Idaho, and double-testing the coffeepot.

Rumors have been flying this fall about a new world record elk shot down in Utah, and now, the world's record keeper, the Boone and Crockett Club, has confirmed it. On September 30, Denny Austad of Ammon, Idaho, downed the monster bull while hunting on public land in the Fishlake National Forest in south-central Utah.

When Barack Obama announced his nomination of Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary in early December, my initial thought was something along the lines of, That must mean the federal investigation of the governor's administration has ended. How wrong I was.

A highly touted mixed-use development slated for the historic Story Mill site in Bozeman appears to be dead - the latest victim of the rolling financial fiasco that has engulfed the Yellowstone Club and its owner, Edra Blixseth. The Story Mill project, which would have been among the first large urban infill projects in the region and promised to set new standards for sustainable development, was led by Matthew Crocker, the son of Edra Blixseth. Crocker and Blixseth signed personal guarantees for a $13 million loan from a Colorado real estate finance company in the summer of 2007, the proceeds of which went to Blue Sky Development, Go Build and several related entities. Story Mill was the primary project being undertaken by those companies, and the Colorado firm, Western Capital Partners, sued Blixseth and Crocker for repayment last month, alleging that no payments had been made on the loan since July. Multiple sources associated with Story Mill confirmed that activity had been at a standstill for some time, and that Go Build laid off all its employees and closed its Bozeman office in December. Story Mill is one of a number of entities that are reeling in the wake of the Yellowstone Club bankruptcy.

Plum Creek CEO Rick Holley told Missoula County Commissioners in a letter sent today that the timber company is backing off a controversial proposal to allow logging roads on public lands to be used for any purpose, including development. The letter comes just after Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey vowed to push the easements through before Barack Obama, who said he would oppose the proposal, takes office January 20. In the letter, Holley writes, "Although we continue to believe that the easement amendment would be beneficial to the general public, given the the lack of receptivity, we have decided not to go forward with the amendment." Missoula County had been very vocal in its opposition to the easement amendment and the letter was welcome news to Deputy Missoula County Attorney James McCubbin who called the move, "commendable." "We appreciate that they're reacting to the public input they've received," McCubbin said. Click here for a PDF of the letter and stay tuned as we update the story. The easement amendment was privately negotiated between Plum Creek and the Forest Service to clarify the decades-old easements and ensure Plum Creek access across Forest Service for purposes besides resource extraction, namely to access residences. Residential development has become a big part of Plum Creek's business as the timber industry flounders from the effects of the housing downturn. In October, the Government Accountability Office announced it was investigating the deal. Still this last weekend, the Washington Post reported Rey was ready to go forward with the plan.

The Washington Post has a report today about outgoing Interior Secretary andformer Idaho Gov. and Senator Dirk Kempthorne spending about $235K to renovate his office bathroom. If Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is confirmed this month as interior secretary, he'll have a snappy, scarcely used bathroom in his fifth-floor office, thanks to Dirk Kempthorne, the outgoing secretary. Seems Kempthorne spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds renovating the bathroom a few months ago, which included installing a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels, department officials told our colleague Derek Kravitz.

If any academic program had a record as poor as the University of Idaho football and men's basketball teams, it would be eliminated or at least reduced in its mission. But since 1999 state funding for UI athletics went from $1.78 million to $3.04 million, a 71 percent increase. By comparison general education budgets for Idaho higher education have increased only 46 percent during the same period. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

The Islands of Divine Music by John Addiego Unbridled Books 241 pages, $24.95 Whenever a book starts with the diagram of a family tree, you know you're in for a lot of characters. Instead of trying to figure out how everyone connects, it's best to dive into the charm of The Islands of Divine Music. This isn't a jaunt into tropical magical realism, like the title suggests, but it does borrow from it and it lands there at the end. We travel with the Verbicaro family through cholera epidemics in Southern Italy, the big earthquake in San Francisco, Cold War paranoia, after-effects of the Vietnam War, Native American protests at Alcatraz, migratory farm worker life in the Western United States, and end with religious fervor in Mexico. Somehow, this works seamlessly in author John Addiego's capable hands. Corvallis, Ore., resident Addiego is the author of numerous stories and poems, and is the former poetry editor at the Northwest Review. The Islands of Divine Music is his first novel. It is one of those books you have to read to experience the nuanced details, the deft language, and the intriguing characters. Addiego's poetry background is felt in every page. Fortunately, he also has a novelist's knowledge of his characters. Even though The Islands of Divine Music is only 241 pages, it's a large story, but the scope of its characters is intimate.

In May 2008, Blue Mountain Clinic sponsored the inaugural Off The Rack fashion show. We called in "baring and daring" because we sought to promote healthy sexuality that goes beyond barriers, gender and stigma. The event includes tow runway shows of tasteful, wearable art including bras, dresses, suits, ties and accessories made of condoms and other materials. Blue Mountain Clinic has been serving the Missoula community for more than 30 years. We hope you will help support us by attending the 2009 Off the Rack event on February 7, 2009 at The Wilma Theater.

The hundreds of little earthquakes that have shaken up Yellowstone National Park over the last week, setting off new concerns about the possibility of 'the big one' for the supervolcano, seem to have calmed the last few days. According to the latest data from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, the last earthquake happened on Friday at 5:23 p.m. It was a small one (2.6) but Friday was an active day -- 10 quakes and three of them more than 3.0 on the scale. The largest Friday was a 3.5. Scientists call the cluster of quakes a "swarm" and since Dec. 26, hundreds have been logged under Yellowstone Lake. The largest swarm was registered a 3.9, just a hair below the magnitude that begins to cause damage (4.0). The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, in a report Dec. 29, called the quakes "notable" but pointed out that "Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yellowstone National Park area, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year." The park's caldera floor has been on the rise in the past three years as magma lifts, causing more eruptions, more geysers and cracking. The rise is faster than any other time on record. That, and the fact that the supervolcano erupts every 600,000 years (the last was 640,000) means scientists are saying the swarm is nothing to immediately worry about, but nothing to to balk at either. The observatory's chief scientist, Jake Lowenstern, told Time last week: "We don't think the amount of magma exists that would create one of these large eruptions of the past. It is still possible to have a volcanic eruption comparable to other volcanoes. But we would expect to see more and larger quakes, deformation and precursory explosions out of the lake. We don't believe that anything strange is happening right now."

The hundreds of little earthquakes that have shaken up Yellowstone National Park over the last week, setting off new concerns about the possibility of 'the big one' for the supervolcano, seem to have calmed the last few days. According to the latest data from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, the quakes are still coming, but they're fewer and weaker. Four were reported over the weekend and only one was more than 2.0 on the scale. Another one, at 1.3, was logged this morning. Scientists call the cluster of quakes a "swarm" and since Dec. 26, hundreds have been reported under Yellowstone Lake. The largest swarm was registered a 3.9, just a hair below the magnitude that begins to cause damage (4.0). The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, in a report Dec. 29, called the quakes "notable" but pointed out that "Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yellowstone National Park area, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year." The park's caldera floor has been on the rise in the past three years as magma lifts, causing more eruptions, more geysers and cracking. The rise is faster than any other time on record. That, and the fact that the supervolcano erupts every 600,000 years (the last was 640,000) means scientists are saying the swarm is nothing to immediately worry about, but nothing to to balk at either. The observatory's chief scientist, Jake Lowenstern, told Time last week: "We don't think the amount of magma exists that would create one of these large eruptions of the past. It is still possible to have a volcanic eruption comparable to other volcanoes. But we would expect to see more and larger quakes, deformation and precursory explosions out of the lake. We don't believe that anything strange is happening right now."

Since October 2007, New Mexico politics have been in a state of flux as the transition to the post-Pete Domenici era unfolded at the same time that the progressive takeover of American politics shifted the makeup of the state's congressional delegation and Legislature. We thought the dust was about to settle. Domenici was out. So were Wilson and Pearce. And Bill Richardson -- well, we all knew he came back to New Mexico to run for governor primarily so he could get another job in Washington, and we started 2009 thinking he was leaving to become commerce secretary. Which would mean Diane Denish would become, in the coming weeks, the first woman to be governor of New Mexico. But Richardson dropped another bomb on New Mexico politics on Sunday when he withdrew his nomination to be commerce secretary.

Utah has had a surfeit of eco-news in the past couple of weeks. First, of course, there's Tim DeChristopher, the bogus BLM bidder. DeChristopher put his paddle up on December 19th to disrupt a BLM sale of mineral rights in Utah. He is now awaiting charges from the BLM, which seems completely flummoxed. They are purportedly not planning on holding another auction.