Letter: Traditional land use facing many threats

By Bill Hanley - 07/31/2008

The Montana Standard did readers a big favor when they printed the editorial page on July 22. The two leading items were “Farm on conservation land” and “Help wanted to fight subdivision.” Both articles point to the same problem — land. While many countries are facing food shortages, we are putting corn, soy and other crops into ethanol production.

The Conservation Reserve Program started in the 1980s by environmental groups. Our government pays $1.8 billion a year to keep farmers from using 34 million acres for raising crops.

Even with people starving, the enviros are going to court to stop some of that land to be used — even to graze cattle and raise hay.

On the other article, Madison County might lose more agricultural land for subdivisions. Madison Valley is nicknamed “Bozeman suburbs” because of the creeping sprawl.

Our county’s ecosystem is based on agriculture, tourism and wildlife attractions. Subdivisions are not enough to draw young couples for those well-paying jobs that don’t exist in our county. Young couples who do move here will commute to Butte and Bozeman and there is where they will do their shopping. Other buyers will be retirees and like Ennis — some will become snowbirds after one or two winters.

This federal conservation program to save “environmentally sensitive” lands, plus some less environmentally sensitive, sounds like the land barons of the old West. If this program continues and these subdivisions are allowed to develop, we’ll look like a Montana version of California, and the cost of all that development will fall on the bank accounts (taxes) for the 7,500 residents of Madison County.

The real shame is that years ago, enviros claimed they wanted to save these beautiful views, clean air, etc. for future generations. How long will it be before the enviros are suing the developers because the homes are too close to these “protected areas” and there is no more land?

You can laugh all day — but ask a person who moved here from California why he/she moved to Montana. I know someone who did 25 years ago, and he told me that the Bozeman sprawl is how many areas of California grew until it was solid houses from Los Angeles to the Mexican border.

Local citizens who don’t want the subdivision near Whitehall should get their groups together. The public hearings before the county commissioners will probably be in mid-August.

Bill Hanley P.O. Box 252 Twin Bridges