Hello,

This is the third issue of the Center’s bi-monthly, on-line newsletter.  The Center does a wide range of work in the state and in the region – exploring our history, current challenges, and emerging opportunities.  For those of us lucky enough to live in the Rocky Mountain West, we know we live in a special place.  If it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be something like the Center.  We try to be a unique asset and resource for the region and will continue to report to you regularly on our activities.

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

this month in the region's history
                                                            provided by William Farr

The above ground buildings of the Smith Mine
 as it appeared in the early days.

Fifty-three years ago, in the early days of the new year, a Montana coal mining explosion caused the death of seventy-four miners at the Smith Mine at Washoe near Red Lodge on February 27, 1943. It was the biggest coal mining disaster in Montana history. Eerily reminiscent, then as now, trapped miners left poignant messages to their loved ones.  One communication, written in chalk, read: "Walter and Johnny goodbye wife and daughters, we died an easy death."  Another registered the attempts of those involved to save themselves: "We try to do our best but we couldn’t get out."

See Ellis Roberts Parry, Montana Dateline (Guilfood, Conn., Globe Pequot Press, 2001), p. 4

center in the news

A new tack in West's land battles - Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 25, 2006
Community-Based Conservation Seminar Series: Daniel Kemmis, Jan. 25 - Colorado State University, Jan. 20, 2006
How far will courts go to achieve school funding equity? - Missoulian Online, Jan. 20, 2006
Home loans slow down, competition heats up - Missoulian, Jan. 19, 2006
Democrats discuss Western primary - Missoulian, Jan. 11, 2006
The West and the high court - The Denver Post, Jan. 9, 2006
State's aging population brings in big federal bucks - Missoulian, Jan. 6, 2006
UM seminar will examine school funding - Missoulian, Jan. 5, 2006
Away from the ‘dark side’: New ‘vanguard agriculture’ puts people back on land - The Billings Outpost, Jan. 5, 2006
Browning museum to lose funding - Great Falls Tribune, Jan. 1, 2006
Museum has endured rocky journey - Great Falls Tribune, Jan. 1, 2006
2006: The year of the baby and the middle-aged - Helena Independent Record, Jan. 2, 2006
Utah Keeps Western Primary Rolling - Headwaters News, Dec. 28, 2006
EPA comes to the rescue of town overrun by growth - The Oregonian, Dec. 25, 2005
Local economy has momentum going into '06 - Great Falls Tribune, Dec. 23. 2005
Babies as economic indicators? - Great Falls Tribune, Dec. 18, 2005
Great Falls hearing only an echo of West’s boom - Great Falls Tribune, Dec. 14, 2005
Annual economic summit puts spotlight on region's retail scene - Great Falls Tribune, Dec. 11, 2005
Give economy a checkup at summit next week - Great Falls Tribune,  Dec. 6, 2005

recent activities

On February 3, Bob Brown interviewed former Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice and State Senate President Jean Turnage for the Mansfield Library historical archives. The recorded interview with Justice Turnage is part of a series of interviews Brown has conducted with prominent Montanans to preserve their recollections and perspectives for future historians.

On February 2 in Helena, Mont., Center Director Larry Swanson presented an analysis of projected trends in population, income, and employment during a strategic planning session of the Montana State Fund (MSF). MSF is a state entity created by the Montana Legislature to provide workman’s compensation insurance in the state.

On February 1 in Reno, Nev., Daniel Kemmis assisted the Mina Management Team (a diverse, collaborative, resource management team, associated with the management of the Cedar Mountain grazing allotment near Walker Lake) with a strategic planning session for that rural watershed.

On January 27, Pat Williams was a guest speaker at a Missoula lunch celebrating the publishing of Motherlode, a book about the legacy of women in early day Butte, Montana.Williams spoke of the necessity of women in the turbulent, bawdy mining camps of the late 1800s and early 1900s.His remarks were titled "It Took a Village to Mine the Copper."Motherlode has been published by River City Press of Livingston, Mont., and is available in both soft and hardback.

On January 26 in Helena, Mont., Swanson discussed population and economic trends in Montana’s major cities at a meeting of the mayors and managers of Montana’s seven largest cities. During the last ten years, over 90 percent of the state’s income growth occurred in and around Montana’s seven largest cities.

On January 25 in Ft. Collins, Colo., Kemmis was a guest lecturer at Colorado State University, presenting the opening session in a semester-long seminar series on collaborative conservation.

On January 24 in Kalispell, Mont., Brown was invited to participate in a group planning session to establish a "Center for Community Leadership" at Flathead Valley Community College. The purpose of the proposed Center would be to bring together local opinion leaders and public officials to resolve community conflicts and lead the Flathead Valley forward as a community. 

On January 19 in Missoula, at The University of Montana, Bob Brown and Pat Williams moderated the third in the seminar series sponsored by the Center entitled "Montana Constitution: Progressive Spirit of the Rocky Mountain West". More than 100 people attended, with panel discussions by key educational and legislative leaders on public school funding and on constitutional requirements for Indian education in Montana. The fourth in the five-part series will focus on the environmental protection provisions of the state constitution and will be held at the UM Flathead Lake Biological Station on June 9.

On January 13, Williams was a guest on the nationwide talk radio program hosted by Al Franken. Williams has been an earlier contributor to and a guest on Garrison Keeler’s weekly radio program broadcast by NPR.

On January 10 in Missoula, Kemmis spoke to the Missoula County Democratic Central Committee on plans for western states to hold their presidential primaries or caucuses on the same date in 2008.

On January 6 in Great Falls, Mont., Swanson was an invited speaker at the Northcentral Montana Healthcare Alliance Regional Governance Conference. His presentation was "Rural Healthcare’s Place in the Economy of Northcentral Montana."   The conference was attended by hospital and health care administrators and board members from a 12-county area.

In January of 2006, the University of Paris-Sorbonne published the book, Nature et Progrès, edited by Pierre Lagayette. This volume is the twelfth in its series Collection frontières.  This effort came about as the result of an international conference held at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and includes an article by William Farr, Associate Director of Humanities at the Center, entitled "Putting Indians Back Into the Wilderness Equation: Blackfeet Indians and the Great Northern Railroad."

On December 13 in Great Falls, Mont., Larry Swanson was keynote speaker at the second annual "Great Falls Area Economic Summit." He discussed key trends in the area economy and related economic development activities and initiatives by area organizations. The meeting was sponsored by the City of Great Falls, Great Falls Development Corp., Great Falls International Airport, and the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce.

links

Center Web Site
Archived Center Newsletters
Headwater's News
The University of Montana
KUFM Public Radio

The O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West is a program of The University of Montana in Missoula.

regional trends

Migration Patterns in the
Rocky Mountain West

The sea change in migration patterns so heavily impacting the 5-state Rockies (CO, UT, ID, WY, MT) began in the early ‘90s and continued. In the 2000 Census, estimates were made of residence changes (moving) by states of origin during the five-year period from 1995 to 2000. During this five-year period, of the 8.3 million residents of the region in 2000, about 4.25 million (51%) had been in the same residence in 1995 as they were in 2000 (“non-movers”). For the others who had moved, nearly 3.2 million (38%) had moved within the 5-state region. The other 1.1 million (13%) moved to the region from other states.

The states of origin of these new residents of the Rockies are shown in the lower chart. Many came from California – about 21% of the total. The next two most frequent origin states are Texas (8.3%) and Washington (7.3%), followed by Arizona (5.5%).

upcoming events

On February 6-7 in Nebraska City, Neb., Larry Swanson will be presenting and participating in a meeting of conservation organizations and rural development experts examining grassland conservation strategies for a multi-state region of the northern Great Plains. The meeting is sponsored by the Grasslands Foundation of Lincoln, Neb.

On February 14 in Hamilton, Mont., Swanson will be discussing economic and demographic trends in the Bitterroot Valley as part of the 2^nd annual Bitterroot Business Conference sponsored by the Montana Community Development Corporation, Farmers State Bank, and Maverick Marketing of Hamilton.

On February 16 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Swanson will be presenting at the 2006 Real Estate Market Forum. He will discuss economic and population trends in the Rocky Mountain West and in western Montana and Idaho. The conference is attended by more than 300 people working in real estate and business in the region.

On February 18, Bob Brown will present a lecture entitled "Perspectives on the American Political System" to a delegation of the All China Youth Federation at the Mansfield Center for Asian and Pacific Affairs. The Federation is made up of selected young Chinese professionals and emerging government leaders.

On February 23 in Helena, Mont., Pat Williams will be the dinner speaker at the annual convention of the Wildlife Society. Williams’ subject will be "The Land and Politics."

On March 6-7 in Ottawa, Canada, Swanson will be attending a meeting with the PCO Policy Research Group of Ottawa as part of a U.S. delegation of the Canadian-American Border Trade Alliance. The meeting will focus on research and policy needs regarding the U.S.-Canada border, trade and transportation, and bi-national regional economies. PCO also is forming a National Roundtable for the Canadian government on these issues.

On March 16-18, Daniel Kemmis will speak at a conference on civic tourism in Prescott, Ariz.

Between March 27 and April 14, Brown will teach students at Nankai University in Tianin, China about the U.S. political system. Bob will work at Nankai University with government Prof. Han Zhaoying. Prof. Han will visit UM to teach here in the spring of 2007.

On March 28, Kemmis will present a public lecture on public land management under the auspices of the Landscape Architecture Program at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.

recent quotes from the region 
as provided by Headwaters News

"There is nothing positive about this bill unless you happen to have ownership in a mining company."

Bob Abbey, former BLM land manager in Nevada, over the U.S. House-passed legislation to revamp the 1872 Mining Act.
- Casper Star-Tribune (AP) - 12/05/05

"We need to stress that killing a grizzly is not something to brag about; it's something to be ashamed of."

Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear coordinator, discussing a record number of illegal grizzly bear kills in northwestern Montana.
- Great Falls Tribune - 01/23/06 

"I'm declaring the boom is on."

Pam Perlich, senior economist and author of a report that showed Utah can expect thousands of new public school students this fall.
- Deseret News - 01/11/2006

"Every river has been drained within an inch of its life."

Laura Ziemer, director of Trout Unlimited's Montana Water Project, on the group's creation of a water right for bull and cutthroat trout on Poorman Creek.
- Washington Post - 01/16/2006

 "When your house and your land is in danger of being taken from you, it changes your whole attitude."

Barbara Fillmore, whose Colorado ranch lies in the path of a proposed transportation corridor, at a hearing on legislation that would block the use of eminent domain to clear the way for private toll roads.
- Denver Post - 01/20/2006

Spring semester 2006, the Center for the Rocky Mountain West is holding a course entitled "Regionalism and the Rocky Mountain West." First taught in 1998, this three-credit course organized and taught by William Farr, Pat Williams, and Geoffrey Gritzner of the Department of Geography is cross-listed and is available for credit in either History or Geography.

Drawing upon a variety of classroom presentations from a number of disciplines, including those of Center faculty, "Regionalism and the Rocky Mountain West" is an attempt to define, describe, and compare this region with others and to explore regionalism as a meaningful approach to analyzing and understanding contemporary western problems and issues.  

The Center and Larry Swanson are completing work on a research project for the Montana State Fund – a public entity created by the Montana Legislature to maintain a viable system of workers’ compensation insurance in the state. The study is identifying probably 20-year futures for the state in population, income, and employment.

The O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at The University of Montana has received $40,000 for the second year of operation of the Indian Leaders Institute. The Student Assistance Foundation in Helena made the grant to help the Institute continue efforts of enhancing tribal self-governance, Indian/state relations and opportunities for future Indian leaders now graduating from post-secondary schools.

In its first year the Institute conducted two symposiums for the state’s elected Indian legislators. In addition, the Institute co-sponsored three conferences—first, The Indian Self-Determination Act; second, Indian Education for All; and third, effects of the special session of the Montana Legislature on K-12 education and education of Indian students particularly.

In 2006, the Institute plans two governance seminars on the Ft. Peck and Blackfeet reservations. New to this year’s offerings the Salish-Kootenai College and The University of Montana will engage with select students in their transition from school to work or advanced degrees.

Pat Williams has been appointed to the ad hoc Restoration Advisory Committee, created by Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer who is interested in finding ways to improve the state’s restoration economy. The committee is organizing a Restoration Reclamation Conference in June in Billings.

In March, Pat Williams will convene the second of four leadership seminars sponsored by Montana’s Progressive Policy Institute. The Institute began in 2005, graduating 15 participants. This year’s class of 25 held its first seminar during the second weekend in January with presentations on topics ranging from Montana political history to Native American education.