Columns
Searching for opinion based articles? Below we'll share opinion news articles on a wide variety of topics.
Notes from Ranger Doug
I’ve had the pleasure over the years of getting correspondence from longtime Glacier National Park ranger/naturali…
EPA should listen to public
f there is one thing that EPA Region 8 (the Environmental Protection Agency for Montana, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and 27 tribal nations) needs to realize after this recent election, is t…
The joys of rabbit joints
So a few weeks ago I decided to get some quotes on new kitchen cabinets and they came in exactly where I expected, which is to say, way more money than I want to spend or even can afford. Not only that, they were m…
Dealing with disappointment when visiting national parks
There is still something rewarding to be found in travel experiences that don’t live up to our initial expectations.
Daines talks energy
Few decisions made in Washington impact Montanans more than those made about our nation’s natural resources. Unfortunately, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ pursuit of radical environmentalism and a liberal climate cha…
Zinke on Tranel, his record
It’s the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, grocery prices have climbed 21.5 percent, rent has increased by 22…
Ode to the Glacier Park Lodge
“She sleeps! My lady sleeps!” refers to a sleeping lover in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, Serenade. I speak not of this person, but to the Grand Lady of East Glacier Park, Glacier Park Lodge, which by the ti…
Thoughts on NorthWestern Energy
As someone who helps people make financial decisions, I am worried about our state’s largest utility, NorthWestern Energy. NorthWestern provides electric and natural gas services to over 400,000 households and busi…
Celebrating the Wilderness Act at 60
On Sept. 3, 1964, President Johnson signed the Wilderness act; it preserved 54 areas as wilderness, totaling 9,100,000 acres in 13 states. More importantly it envisioned additional areas being added to the newly cr…
Rez dogs of the lodge
They are as much a harbinger of spring as are the swallows of Capistrano … and like the said swallows their return is about as punctual.
Coalition announces meetings
The Coalition For A Clean CFAC will be hosting public meetings on Aug. 20 and 21. These meetings invite the public’s input regarding the proposed Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant Superfund cleanup plan. The August pr…
Pols losing touch to the land
Tim Sheehy, the Republican seeking to unseat Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester, is a business executive born and raised out of state. That same description applies to Troy Downing, a Republican running for one …
Horse Gulch could have been prevented
Writing recently on X (formerly Twitter), Frontier Institute President and CEO Kendall Cotton observed that Montana’s Horse Gulch Fire is burning in a portion of Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest that was slat…
Property tax inequities
In Flathead County, property taxes have increased well beyond inflation for residential homes and businesses. I was appointed to the Governor’s Property Task Force to dig deep into the cause of such escalations and…
Going deep on CFAC
Going deep is an essential next step in order for Columbia Falls and Flathead County residents to begin to really understand and raise meaningful questions about the proposed leave-the-toxic waste-in-place cleanup …
In a jam, and it’s great
Like most other folks in the Flathead Valley, my sweet cherry trees failed this year. Some failed in the terminal sense: They died entirely, while others just came out of last winter’s cold blast looking awfully si…