Spreading the Word, Not Necessarily the Growth

The cries, gurgles and arduous first-breaths of the 1,000th baby of the year for Bozeman weren’t the only such sounds of interest coming from our neck of the woods late last week. Rather, this glorious entrance into the new world by young Blake Lawrence perfectly exemplifies other shouts, murmurs and under-the-breath grumbles emanating from our region as of late.

This new record for Bozeman Deaconess Hospital speaks directly to the 16% population growth in Bozeman in 2004, and the same general trend for the Greater Yellowstone Region. The Missoulian recently reported on this with a piece on a new National Park Service Conservation Association study. The most telling one-liner to add-exponentially- to our baby boom was, “one in every four businesses [in the Greater Yellowstone Region] is owned by someone who first came to Montana as a tourist.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking- here comes another litany on growth in the West. Well, speaking of judgmental, that is what I want to address here; the fact that all over the headlines, lift lines and coffee shop lines is hearty, albeit often heated, conversation over what is sacred to us in the West. And, yes, people are making judgments. I think, to our own credit, that what we are bantering about these days throughout our region–the idea of a western primary, the controversial National Park Service re-write, the budget reconciliation rider to open public lands for sale and development, the insatiable appetite of growth, etc. — is in fact, a hopeful sign.

Why? Because Westerners have never been ones to rest on their laurels; we will take the bull by the horns. If growth and development (both the benefits and drawbacks) are a concern to us, I think some of the rugged individualism that resides in each of our genetic codes will undoubtedly take a stand for our own sovereignty and voice in deciding the path for our future.

By Mike Wolfe

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