blackfoot-valley

sible through strip mining near the surface, this in itself has raised environ- mental concerns with subsequent restrictions, delays, and taxes that have slowed development of the resource. The future of the industry is unclear, but at this point it looks unlikely that coal utilization will touch off an econom- ic bonanza anytime soon. While the tourist industry is significant - the state increasingly sought out by those looking for fishing and hunting, or just relatively unspoiled coun- try, with Montana promoted as “The Last Best Place” (although Alaskans will argue this point) - most of the state’s tourism is highly seasonal and it has no large multipurpose year-round resorts like Idaho’s Sun Valley, Colorado’s Aspen and Vail, or Utah’s Snowbird. In recent years, there has been a piece- meal but steady inflow of people of means seeking places for retirement or vacation homes, as well as of computer-using professionals who today can communicate with employers or customers from anywhere. No doubt this will increase, although the larger such influxes become, the more they encroach on the very qualities that brought people here. This brings up the whole question of growth - in population, economic activity, or in anything else - and not just in Montana. Ever since the pioneer days, Americans have traditionally considered growth as an unmitigated long- term good, a “plus” despite acknowledged short-term problems. But it is also clear that, just as an individual grows up during youth, upon maturity physical growth must stop at some point. If it did not, the result would be unmitigat- ed disaster and early death for that individual. It shouldn’t take much reflec- tion to realize that in anything physical, that is in anything other than intel- lectual development, any long-term “sustainable growth” is an oxymoron. It cannot be long sustained beyond natural maturity. And the United States has certainly reached maturity, on any economic level based on the use of physi- cal resources or use of the land, as well as in population. A few parts of the country, including Montana, still have room for pro- ductive growth when conditions are right. But Montana’s problem is that most of its growth has come in short-term spurts followed by sharp declines, the classic boom-and-bust economy. Compared with the rest of the United States, Montana has not kept pace during the second half of the twentieth century, and certainly not in comparison with such nearby Western Interior states like Idaho and Utah. In most economic indicators such as per-capita wages, job availability, investment, and productivity, Montana has slipped from about average among the states to the range of 45th to 50th (in wages it is presently dead last). All this has led to an exodus of people in their most 92