Missoulian to focus on Phillips County and APR

Missoulian Natural Resources Reporter Rob Chaney met with a small group of people at the Great Northern Hotel's Lodge Room last Wednesday morning as that newspaper is starting a series of stories focusing on Eastern Montana and the American Prairie Reserve (APR).

The meeting was put together by University of Montana Geography professor Rick Graetz and was the launching point for Chaney's reporting in the area.

"I've mostly had my focus of this part of the world through a rifle scope," Chaney said of his time spent in Phillips County on hunting trips. "I do know the APR has land and is doing their thing and I know a whole lot about bison from other contexts, from Yellowstone and the (National) Bison Range, which are two totally separate worlds."

Chaney said he sees "a whole lot of dust over here on the horizon" and that he is trying to report on the relationship between the people of Eastern Montana and the APR. Chaney added that the APR is the original reason his reporting brought him to Phillips County but added he didn't think that organization is the beginning or end of the story.

The others in attendance at the meeting where Missoulian Photo Editor Kurt Wilson, Malta resident Anne Boothe, Phillips County rancher Troy Blunt, and this reporter.

"You need more people at this table," Boothe early on during the meeting.

Chaney stressed that the Wednesday morning meeting was just a starting point for his reporting on the issues and he was scheduled to meet with many more organizations and people in the area, including Phillips County Commissioners and APR staff.

Blunt, whose family has ranched in Phillips County for over 100 years, starting in 1915, said one of his many concerns with the APR in Phillips County is when that, or any other non-profit organization, replaces a local ranch family, they have replaced a local business which in turn hurts other local businesses and the tax base as a whole.

"And we don't have the workforce to support the tourism industry, and it is at a lower pay," Boothe added.

Other topics of discussion on the morning were absentee land-owners, conservation easements, and the spending power and tax advantages non-profit organizations have over private citizens when it comes to buying ranchland.

"The truth is, I can't expand because I can not compete with the prices they pay," Blunt said. "So what is the future? It takes more cows every year to support a family, more ranch business. How do you get more cows if you can't expand? You're kind of handcuffed."

The Missoulian allows other media outlets to write a one-paragraph synopsis of the stories they publish with a link to those stories. Once Chaney's stories are in print, the PCN will publish the synopsis with links to the Missoulian website's articles concerning Phillips County and the APR.

"I have a bunch of stuff that is going to be coming out," Chaney said. "I will tell you up front that the first (story) is going to be pretty tourism related."

Chaney added that he believes three or four stories will follow the tourism story and the topics he will cover will include bison, and the APR and will start running soon and into mid-December.