Development and Decline

There are two Montanas.

One struggles to control rampant development and growth.

The other simply struggles to survive.

Plans for a destination resort on 90 acres in Park County’s Paradise Valley are drawing heat from local residents. The development, which includes 100 cabins, a restaurant and retail space, will change the character of the area, they say.

Opposition is growing.

In Phillips County, where development is lacking and population is declining, there isn’t enough money to pay sheriff’s deputies a competitive salary. The city pool in Malta needs major repairs and there’s no money for that either.

American Prairie, a conservation organization with deep pockets, has been working for years to create an “American Serengeti” on the plains of north central Montana, much of it in Phillips County. AP, however, has been viewed suspiciously by the locals who see it as a threat to cattle ranching.

I suspect they’d trade it in a minute for a Miami-based company’s destination resort.

But developers are hardly scrambling to build much of anything in Phillips County. With the exception of the Loring Hutterite colony’s huge egg facility, and a new Dollar Store on the south side of town, the landscape has changed little in 20 years. Just fewer people.

Paradise Valley, on the other hand, has seen steady growth in that same period, new designer homes and ranchettes now stretching nearly all the way from Livingston to Gardiner.

Of course folks in the valley want development to stop. They’ve already got their piece of Montana, while in Phillips County folks are stuck with an outfit that’s anti-development. AP is replacing cows with bison, and removing fences. There is a yurt camp for visitors.

Too bad the two places can’t trade.

Residents of Paradise Valley would welcome an organization that prioritizes open space and wild critters. Folks in Phillips County would be tickled with a development that provides jobs and income.

Instead, residents of both places will continue to complain about both development and the lack of it. Those that have it don’t want it. Those that don’t have it would sure like to give it a try.

There’s got to be some middle ground.

Harlowton perhaps?

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]