Flathead in transition

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. - Isaac Asimov

The Daily Inter Lake

Change is a quotable subject.

Do a Google search for quotes about change and you'll get 68.5 million Web hits.

Leaders from all generations have recognized the power and the importance of change in our lives. In the late sixth century, Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed that "all is flux; nothing stays still." In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy coined his famous take on change: "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

It is, perhaps, easier to talk about change than to embrace it.

THE DAILY Inter Lake news staff has spent the past month talking to Flathead Valley residents about change. We've looked at the effects of growth on our neighborhoods and our lives. We've done the math on home prices, job openings and population. We've looked into the crystal ball alongside planners trying to shape new growth policies for our towns.

Trying to make sense of all this growth-induced change is a tall task.

Planning boards, city councils and planning departments have been inundated with plans for new development. Neighborhoods have banded together to write growth plans for their backyards. There are enough facts and figures about growth to fill volumes.

But it's the human face of change that's most compelling, the personal stories of lives changed, dreams unfulfilled and opportunities created. Those stories are a big part of the 30-page special report called "Changing Times" in today's Daily Inter Lake.

DIANA SANDE told her story to reporter Bill Spence. She found her dream home in the woods near Kila, with room enough for a menagerie of farm animals. It's her sanctuary.

There were six homes on her rural gravel road when she moved there in 1990; now there are more than 40.

A new subdivision recently was proposed on 90 acres close to her place; the 480 acres across from her is for sale as well, and plans are in the works for at least two other major developments in the area.

She wonders about water quality and traffic, and how the wildlife will fare with such rapid growth.

"I just don't want everything to get decimated," Sande said.

THE PRESSURES of growth turn up in every facet of our lives.

Rising home prices in Whitefish have pushed affordable housing out of reach for people such as Gina Barker, who doesn't make enough money to qualify for any of the resort town's housing programs. Yet her income may be high enough to jeopardize her rent-controlled apartment.

Barker, ironically, used to be in the business of building houses. She was on the verge of rebuilding her financial stability a couple of years ago after a "brief and tragic" second marriage when a drunk driver plowed into her at 80 mph one early winter morning in Polson. Barker was left with debilitating injuries, insurance red tape that required a lawyer and, in the end, very little money to get back on her feet.

Lynn-Wood Fields came to a startling realization not long after she had settled back into Whitefish after college: On a teacher's salary, she'd never be able to buy a home. She wasn't looking to get rich, but she did want the American Dream, so she switched careers and is now selling real estate.

It was a move that allowed her to buy land in Happy Valley and make plans to have a home built.

NOT EVERYONE laments the change that transforming the Flathead.

Longtime Columbia Falls barber Randy Bocksnick has watched his town grow during the 42 years he's been cutting hair. It's different today, he said, but not necessarily bad.

"Most of them when they come, the new folks, they are just so happy to be here," he said in an interview with reporter Nancy Kimball.

"I think Columbia Falls is moving along at the right pace. I like the new growth and the people coming in." It's a refreshing change from the 1960s and '70s when the town "was a little stale and stagnant," he said.

George and Elna Darrow, too, have watched their community evolve. They've lived on a farm near Bigfork since 1968 and can attest to the changes that have accompanied the estates and subdivisions that have come along. But they don't consider themselves opposed to growth and change, reporter Candace Chase wrote in one of her "Changing Times" stories.

While some envisioned Bigfork as just a stop for tourists on the way to Glacier National Park, others developed a different vision. The Darrows count themselves among the second group.

"We wanted Bigfork to become a destination community," George Darrow said.

SOME PEOPLE HAVE dealt with the Flathead's burgeoning growth by moving to the east side of Montana, where life's a little more quiet, a little less hectic, the emigrants say. Reporter Heidi Gaiser talked to several families who have relocated across the Continental Divide in communities such as Ledger and Choteau.

Tom and Cheryl Hodges sold their Farm to Market Road property and had enough money to buy a farm free and clear in rural Ledger.

"I figured we were young enough to pick up and move," Cheryl Hodges said. "Whitefish wasn't giving us the life we came there for anymore."

Gaiser also talked to the Tanko family, Flathead newcomers who found their paradise overlooking Foy's Lake. They'd had their fill of big-city life in Las Vegas.

IS THE Flathead is paradise lost or paradise found? Take a look at "Changing Times" and decide for yourself.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com