Environment and Community Connections in the Basin

The Coalition’s 2005 “State of the Clark Fork” report (available online) summarizes social, economic, and environmental indicators within the Clark Fork Basin, with the goal of examining connections between watershed health and community health. Population growth is one of the most obvious changes in the watershed over the past ten years, and it has been a double-edged sword. On the positive side, an influx of people has brought more economic opportunity, more amenities, and more diversity in some parts of the basin. The costs include more traffic, more pollution, more crime, loss of farmland and wildlife habitat, and less affordable housing. Growth has centered on Flathead, Missoula and Ravalli counties, driven by in-migration of baby boomers looking for a higher quality of life. Economists have speculated that recent growth in the Rocky Mountain West is driven by a combination of natural amenities, an educated workforce, and access to an airport. The areas in the Clark Fork Basin that have grown in the past ten years definitely support this hypothesis. The sub-watersheds with the highest proportion of protected lands are also the watersheds that have seen the highest rates of population growth, and can claim robust economic and social indicators. Conversely, although Butte also has an airport and has ready access to beautiful landscapes, it has not shared in the growth of population and economy as much of the rest of the basin. It is undoubtedly stymied by the legacy of over 100 years of mining. Butte’s history is proud, but its future depends on adequate cleanup of historic mine wastes