LETTER: Holding on to the last best place

How many times have you and I heard that phrase: Montana, the last best place. I moved here to Montana about 10 years ago to escape the hassle that is the entire state of California.

Folks who have lived here in Montana all of their lives, you have no idea as to what population density means. Mile upon mile of cars and mile upon mile of concrete and condominiums that blanket the entire landscape. Pristine foothills that used to surround the L.A. Basin are now covered in homes, and what little vegetation is left goes up in smoke just about every year from fires that consume everything in their path. That leaves the hills barren, and in turn creates vast areas now open to flooding and constant erosion. Couple that with years of drought and the diminishing availability of water, and California and several other Southwestern states are a disaster waiting to happen.

I came up here to Kalispell to see about buying a home and this was around 2011, and at the time there were something like 212 homes in the Kalispell area in foreclosure. For a couple of years earlier, the housing market had collapsed completely, leaving a surplus of homes across the U.S.A.

I look out today at the north end of Kalispell and see all the building that is taking place and ask myself, “What is going on?” The expansion of the medical center, which brings in other businesses as well and people to fill those positons; new hotels for more tourists; and more houses for all those folks who now want to live here. More stress put upon our own natural resources (water) to accommodate the influx of people into the valley. More water being used, and in turn there must be an expansion of the water treatment facilities around the area.

Montana is truly the Last Best Place, and I for one would kind of like to keep it that way.

—Jim Garvey, Kalispell