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

Center in the News

Rattlesnake Wilderness celebrates 25th year - Sept.16, 2005

Exploring the complexities of Glacier - August 29, 2005

Tackling the 'Z' word.  Zoning was the order of the day at Commissioner Chilcott's lunch meeting with concerned citizens - August 22, 2005

Economist to Helena: Ride the ‘sea change' in Western economy - August 17, 2005

Constitutional seminar held in Missoula - August 12, 2005

recent activities

French Ambassador Andre Baeyens, great-grandson of Montana "Copper King" William Andrews Clark, presented "From Copper to Corots: The Two Lives of William Andrews Clark, Senator of Montana" at the second Presidential Lecture at the University of Montana on Oct. 10, 2005.  Ambassador Baeyens' visit was co-sponsored by the Center.

Baeyens became acquainted with Bob Brown who was Montana Secretary of State when the Ambassador visited Montana in 2004 to research his family roots.  Brown, now a senior fellow at the O'Connor Center, arranged Baeyen's visit to UM. 

While at UM, Baeyens also conducted a seminar entitled "Franco - American Relations: Past and Present."  "His presentation offered a fascinating perspective on his family roots in Montana, and his present day view of international events which shape the world of which Montana is a part." Brown said.

The University of Montana’s Center for Ethics launched a noon speaker series for the Autumn 2005 semester.  This semester’s “Ethics at Noon” theme is “Envisioning the Promises and Perils of Building a Just and Sustainable Future.”  Daniel Kemmis, Center Senior Fellow, gave the opening lecture on Monday, October 3.  His lecture was entitled “Sustainability and Scale: More Local, More Regional, More Global – and Less National.”  Lectures take place 12:10--1:00 p.m. in Room 201 of UM's Gallagher Business Building on the UM campus.  More information about the series can be found at (http://www2.umt.edu/ethics/programs/seminar.htm). 

Daniel Kemmis, Senior Fellow, gave the keynote at the Governor’s Conference on Civic Engagement. The conference, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Missoula on Monday, October 3, focused on the theme of “Creating Community in the Rockies.”

Center Director Larry Swanson was a speaker and participant in the “Ideas Montana Medicine” symposium in Billings Sept. 29-30.  The meeting, organized by the Northwest Research and Education Institute of the Rocky Mountain Health Network and St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, examined research and development opportunities in Montana’s emerging health care, pharmaceutical, and bio-science sectors. Swanson discussed economic implications associated with developments in these fields.

Swanson also was an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the Montana League of Cities and Towns in Helena in late September.  He and Great Falls mayor Randy Gray  discussed plans for a major economic development planning initiative called Montana 2020.  The two-year project, beginning in November, will identify detailed strategies for advancing city regions in Montana over the next 15 years.  Montana 2020 is being advanced by a consortium of public and private entities with initial leadership by the mayors and city managers of Montana’s seven population centers.

UM's Native American Studies Department and the Center for the Rocky Mountain West co-sponsored this year's celebration of Indian Heritage Day program, September 23 at The University of Montana.  This year's speaker was Earl Old Person, Chief of the Blackfeet Tribe, who spoke on "Blackfeet Treaty-Making."  It is the 150th anniversary of the first Blackfeet treaty with the United States, known to the Blackfeet as Lame Bull's Treaty, signed at the mouth of the Judith River in the fall of 1855.

On September 13 Center Senior Fellow Pat Williams spoke at the season’s inaugural presentation sponsored by the Northern Forest Network. Former Congressman Williams addressed the topic of Montana’s roadless lands in his speech "Twenty-five Years of Roadless Policy and Still Crazy After all These Years." Joining William on a discussion panel was former Forest Service Supervisor Gloria Flora and conservationist David Mathers.

William Farr, Associate Director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, gave a presentation at the Waterton-Glacier National Parks Science and History Conference held August 18, 2005, at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park.  Researchers from Canada and the United States spoke on such topics as landscape change in Waterton Lakes National Park and the history of snowmobiles in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.  Farr's presentation was entitled "Putting Indians Back Into the Wilderness Equation: Blackfeet Indians and the Great Northern Railway."  The one-day conference was attended by some 150 National Park Service employees and interested visitors.  

Swanson participated in a meeting sponsored by the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group entitled “Madison Growth Solutions.”  The meeting in Ennis on August 18 was attended by about 100 area residents and elected officials and focused on needs and options for growth planning in the Madison Valley.  The valley is a haven for fly-fishing enthusiasts and is seeing an increase in second home developments and rural subdivisions.  Swanson’s talk was entitled “Growth and Change in Madison County,” and described aspects of area population and housing growth and economic change.  

Swanson also made an invited presentation to elected members of the Missoula City Government Review Commission on August 17.  He discussed area growth trends and the challenges posed for area decision makers, including city government officials and planning staff.

Swanson was keynote speaker at the 2005 Helena Leadership Institute on August 16 in Helena.  His presentation was entitled “Positioning Helena for Change and Possibilities,” examining key trends in the Helena area economy.  Nearly 100 Helena area leaders attended the day-long meeting that was co-sponsored by the Helena Education Foundation and Gateway Economic Development Corp.  (News story)

A series of seminars entitled "Montana Constitution: Progressive Spirit of the Rocky Mountain West" has been developed at the Center by Senior Fellow Bob Brown. The first of five seminars focusing on the educational provisions of the state’s constitution was held on campus August 12. The keynote speaker was Jim Molloy, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case that led the state Supreme Court to deem the state’s school funding method unconstitutional. Mae Nan Ellingson, Marshall Murray, and Sen. Dan Harrington, all participants at Montana’s 1972 Constitutional Convention, presented their insights on the issue. The seminar concluded with a panel discussion focusing on issues involved in crafting a new school funding formula. (News story)

The Center is concluding its first year of collaboration in hosting the Emerging Leaders Conference. Center Senior Fellow Pat Williams hosted the conference for twelve of Montana’s emerging leaders for three days each in January, June and September. The settings for the three symposiums were Great Falls, Paradise Valley and Helena. Guest lecturers made presentations on: policy and political history, current affairs, fundraising, ballot issues, the media, volunteer recruitment, and Indian education. A class of new participants will be recruited for the coming year with the first class in Missoula in January.

Bob Brown, Senior Fellow, is conducting a series of recorded interviews for the Mansfield Library Historical Archives. The interviews are with historical figures prominent in politics and public affairs over the past half century.  Recent interviews have included long-time Montana State Supreme Court Justice John "Skeff" Sheehey, former Governor Tim Babcock, Montana Farmers Union activist and state legislator Magnus Aasheim, and retired Anaconda Company attorney Gene Tidball. Brown plans additional interviews for the library archives including one scheduled in October with former Montana Congressman Orvin Fjare.

According to Brown, "Getting the stories of Montanans who have lived and made our history on the public record is essential to building an understanding of why we are who we are as Montanans.".

Headwaters News has new Assistant Editor

Daniel Berger returned to his role as assistant editor at Headwaters News on Sept. 12. Dan spent the last two and a half years as the staff writer for the National Forest Foundation, where he wrote about the organization's conservation work for print and online publications. He began freelance writing while completing his print journalism degree at Syracuse University. Dan received a Master's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana in 2002. He has written for and edited a variety of publications, covering topics ranging from ice age geology to current political and cultural trends. He has lived in some corner of the West for the past nine years. 

Regional Trends

              North America's Emerging "Third Coast"
 

Areas of Population Growth
 and Decline in the 1990s

upcoming events

October 12 - Post Falls, Idaho. Center Director Larry Swanson will be keynote speaker at the 2005 Annual Conference of the Idaho Planning Association.  His presentation is entitled “Creating a Sense of Place,” examining growth and change in Idaho and the larger region and how communities can best position themselves for future growth.  Idaho has become one of the fastest growing states in the nation.

October 14 - Browning.  William Farr will be a keynote speaker at the four-day 1855 Lame Bull Treaty Symposium sponsored by Red Crow Community College and the Blood Tribe of Stand Off, Alberta, Canada and Blackfeet Community College and the Blackfeet Tribe (Pikanii Nation). The conference begins on October 14 in Stand Off, Alberta and will be continued October 15 in Browning, Mont. The conference then moves to Fort Benton, Mont., concluding with a visit to the site of the signing of the 1855 treaty on the Missouri at the mouth of the Judith River.

October 21 - Helena. The O'Connor Center in cooperation with the Tribal Leaders Institute will convene a meeting and seminar examining provisions of the Montana Constitution on educational requirements tied to the cultural heritage of American Indians. The event begins at 9:00 a.m. with remarks by Center Senior Fellow and former congressman Pat Williams. The meeting takes place in the House Chamber of the Montana State Capitol.

Seminar participants and panelists will include 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention delegates and legal and educational experts. The seminar will be recorded on video tape for the University of Montana Mansfield Library historical archives. Center Senior Fellow Bob Brown  helped plan and organize the event. He notes: "This seminar, and others in our series, are historically significant. The recordings will provide a valuable resource for future researchers interested in origins of Montana's unique and progressive constitution." The seminar series have been approved for continuing legal education credit for attorneys by the Montana Bar Association, and for renewal credit for teachers and school administrators by the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

this month in the Region's history

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, on Oct. 17, 1855, Governor Isaac I. Stevens of Washington Territory and Alfred Cumming of Nebraska Territory convened the Blackfoot Council where they negotiated and signed a treaty of peace and amity between the Blackfoot tribes (Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot proper and Gros Ventres) and the United States, as well as between the Blackfoot and the various tribes from across the Continental Divide to the West.  Remembered as Lame Bull’s Treaty by the Blackfoot because of its first signatory, the long-anticipated agreement finally took place at the confluence of the Missouri and Judith Rivers after supply delays because low water in the Missouri prevented the Council from concluding its business at Fort Benton as planned.  When the Council anxiously convened, about 3,500 Indians were present, including the Blackfoot, Cree, Nez Perce, Flathead, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille tribes.

Photo courtesy of Washington State Historical Society, 1918.114.9.1

quotes of the month

"In politics, it doesn't matter what the facts are. It matters what the perceptions are. It is the way you frame it."

Brian Schweitzer, Montana's Democratic governor,
on how he was elected in a predominantly 
Republican state.- Washington Post 9/6/05

"So he bought the lot next door for $500,000 and leveled it for his drain field."

Mark Crowley, Flathead County planner, on one millionaire's solution for a septic system for his Montana home.
- Financial Times (Bloomberg News Service)
09/22/05

"I don't care about Howard Dean."

Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming's Democratic governor, who said national Democrats are too liberal for Wyoming, in an address to state leaders.
-Billings Gazette (AP)
09/26/05

Links

Center Web Site
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, Missoula, Montana.