August/September 2007

Hello,

We hope you are having a good summer.  This is another of our updates to you on recent work at the Center.

From all of us at the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, The University of Montana

"Historic Yellow Buses Come Home" 
provided by William Farr

Yellowstone National Park's historic yellow buses have returned home. This past June, in a special homecoming celebration, eight refurbished buses that had cruised the roads of Yellowstone Park were back in service. The buses were originally manufactured by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio, the same company that provided Glacier National Park with its famous red touring buses-the "jammers. "While the red buses have remained a common sight in Glacier, their siblings, the yellow buses, disappeared in Yellowstone.

These touring buses of Yellowstone began transporting park visitors in 1936, 19 years after the first White Motor buses had been purchased in 1917.The first generation of White buses had been painted-what else-yellow, the same color as the earlier Yellowstone stagecoaches.

These 1936 yellow buses quickly became a feature of the Yellowstone National Park experience and by 1940 numbered close to 100 vehicles as they traveled from railway depots outside the Park to the famous destinations within. Following WWII, however, people began driving their own cars and trucks to Yellowstone. The number of yellow bus passengers plummeted and the decision was made to abandon the service. The buses were sold off with eight of the 1936 models going to Skagway, Alaska.

In 2001, the current Yellowstone concessionaire, Xanterra Parks and Resorts, capitalized on an opportunity to restore the yellow buses to Yellowstone by purchasing the Alaska buses. Each bus was then carefully refurbished-removing the original White 706 bodies from their chassis in order to place the rebuilt bodies on 21^st century foundations. The total cost: $1.9 million.

Nostalgia for the yellow buses had grown over the years. People missed them. The 13-passenger, 6-cylinder vehicles had become endearing, even hallowed, reminders of the halcyon days of an earlier age when the national parks of the West and their log palaces had become a central part of the nation's identity.

Now the yellow buses are back home, part and parcel of the nation's first national park. Seeing them on the roads of the Park, an iconic presence, attests to the fact that Yellowstone is not just about bears and geysers or an incredible landscape-it is also an historic place of lodges and tour buses, people and memories.

On July 31^st in Missoula, Mont., Senior Fellow Daniel Kemmis participated in a public forum sponsored by The University of Montana's Center for Ethics. Part of the 2007 Environmental Ethics Institute, the forum addressed the topic, "Does Agriculture Have a Future in Missoula County?"

On July 25^th--August 7^th Senior Fellow Bob Brown presented a series of lectures to the national central committees of three of the four main political parties in Cambodia. The focus of his presentations in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap was how  parties can become more decentralized and democratic and less authoritarian and top-down in their organizational structure.Brown's visit to Cambodia was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.

On July 25^th in Norfolk, Neb., Center Director Larry Swanson gave a luncheon presentation at the annual meeting of the Northeast Nebraska Economic Development Corporation (NENEDD), discussing key factors affecting future growth and development in the larger Plains region. NENEDD is a community development organization representing communities in 16 counties of northeastern Nebraska.

On July 23^rd in Missoula, Mont., Senior Fellow Pat Williams hosted a meeting between Mary Sexton, the Director of the Montana Department of Natural Resources, and Missoula civic leaders on the subject of river and landscape restoration.

On July 16^th in Helena, Mont., Swanson made a presentation entitled "Positioning Communities for Growth and Change" at the Pacific Northwest Economic Development Conference. The annual conference is attended by economic development practitioners from the Pacific Northwest, including representatives from British Columbia, Alberta, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon.

On July 13-15^th in Missoula, Mont., the Colorado-based Sopris Foundation sponsored a conference entitled "Innovative Ideas for a New West: New Practices for Growing Communities of the Intermountain West." Kemmis delivered a keynote address to the conference.  Other speakers include David Orr, James Kunstler and Gloria Flora.

On July 13^th in Missoula, Mont., Williams addressed the directors of 26 State Bar Association and convened by Attorneys Liability Protection Society (ALPS).  His subject was "What is Wrong with our Student Civics Education?"

On June 26^th in Missoula, Mont., Williams hosted and chaired a meeting of "Restore Montana" at the Center's conference room.Restore Montana is a community-based organization comprised of landscape restoration businesses, unions, and environmental groups whose mission is to further Montana's restoration economy.

On June 25^th at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Wash., Swanson spoke at the Oregon Bankers Association annual meeting, describing past and emerging growth trends in Oregon and the larger region.

On June 25-27^th in Gallatin Gateway, Mont., Kemmis participated in a symposium on "Environmental Stewardship" sponsored by the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. The symposium focused on the role of religious leaders in environmental stewardship. 

On June 16^th in Helena, Mont., Senior Fellow Bob Brown and fellow former legislator Dorothy Bradley spoke at the 35^th reunion of the delegates to the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention. Brown and Bradley were members of the Montana Legislature before the 1972 convention, during the constitution's implementation, and in the decade following its implementation.

On June 13^th, in Missoula, Mont., Brown presented his thoughts on the Middle East from the perspective of his experiences last year in Israel to the Missoula Sunrise Rotary Club.

On June 12^th in Orofino, Idaho, Kemmis represented the Northwest Area Foundation when the Idaho Community Foundation announced grants from the Northwest Area Foundation's donor-advised funds to the communities of Orofino, Kamiah and Elk River.

On June 7^th in Missoula, Mont., Swanson spoke at the Missoula Organization of Realtors' "Community Through Business Forum," describing and discussing recent growth trends in the Missoula and Ravalli County area.

On June 1^st in Missoula, Mont., Swanson gave a presentation atthe Missoula-based Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources (IJNR) "High Country Institute" - a "learning expedition" for reporters, editors and news producers aimed at deepening their understanding of growth and development issues in the West. Swanson discussed population and economic change in the Rocky Mountain West with 20 journalists from around the region. 

recent quotes from the region 
as provided by Headwaters News


"In 2,000 pages, there's only five paragraphs on water."

Cathy Kay, of Western Colorado Congress, on the lack
of information on what oil-shale development will do to the
Colorado's water supplies.
-  Denver Rocky Mountain News
06/08/2007

" Dark soot can heat up quickly. It's like placing tiny toaster ovens into the snowpack."

" Frankly, we'd be pleased if the feds weren't so fired up on oil and gas in West."

" This isn't the '50s where you can just go out and dig a hole and start mining."

" This is probably the biggest fire we've seen in the U.S. since 1910."

"We go from 100-degree temperatures to a wildfire that covers 12 miles and the next day, a flood. Holy mackerel!"

regional trends

Red States vs. Blue States or "Mauve Nation"?

Electoral map of U.S. for 2004 presidential race

At the national level political commentators usually try to present the country as a mix of "red" states - those almost always voting Republican in presidential elections - and "blue" states - those usually voting Democrat. And the reporting oftentimes creates the impression of a deeply divided nation. In reality there are many more of us somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum, even here in the heart of the Rockies.

Click here for more.

center in the news 

Kemmis takes helm at Northwest Area Foundation - Missoulian, July 26, 2007

Indian culture to be topic at conference - Great Falls Tribune, July 24, 2007

Economic engine running strong: Almost all industry sectors across Montana are performing well - Missoulian, July 15, 2007

A good showing: Study says arts contribute $34 million annually to Missoula... - Missoulian, July 15, 2007

On Fringe of Forests, Homes and Fires Meet - New York Times, June 26, 2007

Cleanup Begins on Montana's Clark Fork River - National Public Radio, June 26, 2007

Plum Creek steps up public relations - Missoulian, June 11, 2007

A Western Primer on the Western Primary - New West Network, June 8, 2007

upcoming events

On Aug. 7^th at Lone Rock School in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, Center Director Larry Swanson will make a presentation at a public forum on growth trends in Ravalli County.The forum is sponsored by the Ravalli County Planning Office and is part of the county's current comprehensive planning process.

On Aug. 7-9^th in Missoula, Mont., the Council on Foundations is convening a national Rural Philanthropy Conference.  Senior Fellow Kemmis will participate as Chair of the Board of the Northwest Area Foundation.

On Aug. 9^th in Whitefish, Mont., Swanson will speak at the annual meeting of the National Association of State and Land Grant Universities Government Affairs Officials, describing and analyzing shifting voting patterns in the U.S. and western Rocky Mountain region.

On Aug. 14^th in Hamilton, Mont., Swanson will make another presentation on growth trends and challenges in the Bitterroot Valley as part of Ravalli County's comprehensive planning process.

On Aug., 17^th in Browning, Mont., the Center is once again co-sponsoring the Piegan Institute Conference.William E. Farr, Center Associate Director, says that principal speakers will include Narcisse Blood from Red Crow College in southern Alberta; Hugh Dempsey, emeritus, Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta; Eldon Yellowhorn, Simon Fraser University; and Wilena Old Person, The University of Montana.This annual conference, the fifth, attracts a large audience from across Montana and Alberta for its continued investigations of the Blackfeet experience, then and now, and how that experience has contributed to our regional identity.  The conference will be held at the Cuts Wood School on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

On Aug. 24-26^th in Portland, Ore., the Policy Consensus Initiative is bidding farewell to its longtime Director, Chris Carlson, with a symposium in her honor. Kemmis will participate in the symposium on behalf of the Center, on whose advisory board Chris served for several years.

On Aug. 27^th at Lochsa Lodge in Idaho, Griffin-Hammis Associates, along with Virginia Commonwealth University, is sponsoring a workshop to help small businesses work more effectively with people with disabilities. Kemmis will speak on the role of social capital in building stronger, more prosperous communities.

On Sept. 5^th in Billings, Mont., Former Congressman Pat Williams will address a breakfast meeting of civic leaders.  His remarks are entitled "The West's Purple Policy Future."

On Sept. 10^th in Missoula, Mont., Swanson will participate in a strategic planning meeting of Community Regional Hospital.

On Sept. 20^th at the Nine-mile Community Center in Montana, Swanson will speak to members of the Garden Club of America who will be touring Montana.He'll discuss growth and change in Western Montana.

On Sept. 21^st at the B-Bar Ranch north of Yellowstone Park, Mont., Williams hosts the quarterly meeting of the Progressive Policy Institute's Leaders Forum.

On Sept. 24^th and 25^th in Pecs, Hungary, Swanson will participate in the annual international conference of the PASCAL Observatory entitled, "Lifelong Learning in the City-Region." He will be a panelist in the conference's final overview session.

project activity

Senior Fellow Pat Williams assisted in the founding of a new policy institute - Western Progress.  The institute covers the eight states of the Rocky Mountains with offices in Phoenix, Denver, and Missoula.

On Aug. 9-11^th, the Center, in partnership with The University of Montana's School of Journalism, is hosting a symposium of leading journalists from throughout the Rocky Mountain West, exploring the role of media in highlighting and examining issues at a regional scale. Supported by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, the symposium will draw heavily on the experience of the Center's regional news service, Headwaters News.

Senior Fellow Pat Williams is now in his 11^th year of providing regular newspaper columns to media in Montana and other states of the Rockies.He also continues to be heard monthly on Montana's public radio with his regular commentaries about public policy.

Center director Larry Swanson recently completed a chapter for a forthcoming book by PASCAL entitled Building Stronger Communities: Research informing policy and practice (NIACE, September, 2007).  Swanson's chapter is entitled, "Sustaining Community Leadership Learning - Recent Experience in Montana, U.S.A."   PASCAL recently released another book entitled Social Capital, Lifelong Learning and the Management of Place, edited by Michael Osborne, Kate Sankey and Bruce Wilson (Routledge, 2007). It included a chapter by Swanson and Pat Inman entitled, "Cities as engines of growth."

Associate Director William Farr has completed his book-length manuscript on the German impressionist painter Julius Seyler who painted in Glacier National Park and among the Blackfeet Indian, 1913-1914. Seyler was a European painter of considerable stature whose marriage brought him to St. Paul, Minn. Family contacts introduced Seyler to Louis W. Hill just as Hill was looking for artists to help him promote the Great Northern Railway and Glacier Park. Upon publication, Farr's book is expected to appeal to students of Western art, American Indian imagery, and the history of national parks, especially Glacier National Park.

STAFF ACTIVITIES

Senior Fellow Daniel Kemmis was elected chair of the Board of Directors of the Northwest Area Foundation. The foundation works to reduce poverty long-term in Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas,  Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. These states were served by the Great Northern Railway, which was founded by James J. Hill, whose son, Louis, established the foundation in 1934.

Center director Larry Swanson was recently invited to join the advisory board of the Grassland Foundation, based in Lincoln, Neb. The Foundation works on native grassland protection and preservation measures and initiatives in the Northern Great Plains.

Swanson also was selected to become an associate of the PASCAL Observatory, an international research and policy development alliance on new and emerging ideas about place management, social capital, and learning regions. Around 30 associates were initially selected from around the world composed of experts and practitioners in PASCAL's areas of interest.  Swanson is one of only two associates selected from the United States.

On July 20^th Senior Fellow Pat Williams was re-elected to a second term on the Board of Trustees of City Club Missoula.

Doug Lawrence, the Center's Information Systems Specialist, will teach a Computer Science course this semester entitled "Computer Architecture." The class teaches students fundamentals of computer design, memory design, instruction sets, instruction pipelining, and a "functional" view of the computer--looking at how the different parts operate both independently and with each other. Lawrence has been a UM adjunct professor for seven years.

William Farr, the Center's Associate Director, is once again teaching a class entitled "The Medieval World" as part of the History Department. Sandwiched between the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, the Medieval World continues to attract student interest and marvel.