Firefighters to be lauded for efforts
As another intense forest-fire season swirls around us, we should remember that we owe appreciation to the firefighters on the lines of a host of major fires.
On the four major fires in Northwest Montana, there are almost 2,000 firefighting personnel. Add to that number the sheriff's deputies, local volunteer fire crews, volunteers from many organizations and other support workers and it's a small army involved in firefighting.
For members of the public, a fire season inevitably leads to frustrations, whether over up-to-date fire information or bigger policy questions about forest management.
People should remember, however, not to take out their frustrations over larger issues on the ground troops who are trying to contain massive fires. They are doing their very best for all of us.
FIRES ARE on a lot of people's minds this week, but there was a piece of good news on the front page last weekend which we hope did not go undetected.
In a midyear report, the director of the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research has announced that worries about the continued pace of growth in Montana may have been exaggerated.
At the Summer Economic Outlook seminar, Paul Polzin told the audience that construction has continued stronger than expected and commodity prices have remained high as well. But ultimately he said "there's not one reason" for the stronger forecast, but a "multiple of reasons."
Montana has seen four straight years of economic growth of 4 percent or more, and there's no reason not to hope for more.
RAPID DEVELOPMENT in the Flathead has prompted both Columbia Falls and Whitefish to look for ways to preserve remaining open space.
The Columbia Falls City Council on Monday decided to spend nearly $1 million from the city's Cedar Creek Trust Fund to buy 27.8 acres of riverfront land on the Flathead River north of the U.S. 2 bridge. This foresightful move will allow Columbia Falls to preserve space for future parks, ballfields, picnic areas or whatever the public deems best uses.
Meanwhile, Whitefish has an opportunity to purchase a .44-acre parcel adjacent to City Beach that could be used for future beach expansion to the west, but the city doesn't have the $3.1 million needed to purchase the coveted beachfront property on Whitefish Lake.
The City Council on Monday decided to let voters say whether or not they want to foot the bill via a general obligtion bond. A mail-in election will be held this fall.
It remains to be seen whether Whitefish voters will approve a bond that will cost the average homeowner roughly $85 to $100 a year over the next two decades, but both the Whitefish and Columbia Falls councils should be credited for seeing the value of open space and doing what they can to preserve it.