Popular Press & Media
Fire Articles
The Wall Street Journal: Growing populations of towns in ‘wildland-urban interface’ is a key reason for rising wildfire threat in the West, researchers say.
Growth Articles
Town and Country Magazine: Today’s run on land out west is spreading not American power but five-star living dressed up as frontiersmanship. Welcome to the home of end-table antlers and Escalades.
Daily Montanan: Obviously, people have been moving to larger communities in Montana, the study said. But it said so much media attention has focused on the “decline and despair” of rural towns, “it is less known that people are also moving to Montana’s rural communities.”
Housing Articles
The mission of the Park County Housing Coalition is to create a community-based collaborative effort to increase opportunities for Park County residents to access housing where they can afford to live and thrive.
The Park County housing action plan (HAP), finalized in early 2022, aims to define clear goals, strategies, policies, priorities, and responsible parties for implementation to create and preserve homes affordable to Park County, Montana, residents. The plan will define a mechanism to monitor progress and priorities.
Northwest Colorado Council of Governments: Are COVID Impacts on Housing & Services Here to Stay?
The Park County Housing Coalition, collaboratively launched by the Park County Community Foundation and Human Resource Development Council of District IX (HRDC), is releasing the 2021 Park County Housing Needs Assessment. This assessment compiles information to document our community-wide housing challenge.
Montana Free Press: As home prices soar and people move in, Flathead Valley residents are stymied by a dwindling supply of rental properties. For Kalispell’s Amber Hogan, that means pulling up roots and leaving Montana.
Montana Business Quarterly: The lack of affordable housing has been an increasingly difficult problem for many Montana communities. With relatively few affordable homes available for households earning a low income, and with much of the existing affordable inventory aging and in need of rehabilitation, many households earning a low income are being priced out of housing markets.
Newsletter
State Legislation Threatens Water Supplies
Guy Alsentzer joins the Friends podcast again for another informative—and at times passionate—discussion about threats to our water - the rights of senior water rights holders, and our rivers and streams.
State Legislation Threatens Water Supplies, Water Quality, Wildlife & Local Control Over Development:
Make Your Voice Heard!
Friends of Park County Action Alert
March 2025 Supporter Update:
Local Development Proposals and Proposed State Laws
Check out this new podcast with Laurie Bishop of Livingston and Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center.
At year’s end, we at Friends of Park County reflect on what we’re grateful for –
and look forward to meeting the challenges of 2025.
Check out this new podcast with Guy Alsentzer of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper. Guy and UMW are responsible for a smashing legal victory for ranchers and wildlife earlier this year.
If the proposed Suce Creek resort is "the tip of the iceberg",
and more development is looming on the horizon,
the County Commission must take action in 2025 to avoid sinking our quality of life.
On behalf of our Board of Directors and our Board of Advisors, I'd like to thank all of our Friends for your generous support during Give a Hoot. We are honored in your trust in us, and we pledge to continue to work hard, and smart, for the future of Park County.
Popular News Articles
Short Term Vacaction Rentals
The New York Times: A short-term rental gold rush is fueling concern for the area’s signature trees and debates about whether the nature of life in the desert of southeastern California is changing forever.
Daily Montanan: Residents of a coastal Oregon neighborhood in November 2021 successfully passed a ballot initiative that, over the next five years, will do away with short-term rentals in unincorporated communities.
Post Register: More people visit Island Park each year and more homeowners are turning their properties into short-term rentals.
HRDC's Lila Fleishman, Ben Davis, of the Whitefish City Commission, Mathieu Menard, of the City of Livingston, join PCEC for a discussion of short-term rental regulations.
GovOS: The popularity of short-term rentals shows no signs of slowing down, creating complex issues for local governments.
East Idaho News: Idaho’s picturesque views and endless supply of outdoor recreational opportunities have always attracted visitors — tourists and new residents alike. But the dynamic changed in the past decade, with the rise of third-party rental websites like Airbnb, VRBO and Vacasa.
Water
Quantifying the interconnected impacts of climate change and irrigation on surface water flows is critical for the proactive management of our water resources and the ecosystem services they provide.
New study uses 35 years of data to qualify the impacts of irrigation on river basins across the western U.S. to better inform future management decisions. As it turns out, it's complicated.
Wildlife
Mountain Journal: Robert Liberty is a nationally-respected expert on smart—and dumb—ways communities grow. The patterns of development outside of Yellowstone Park alarm him. But hope is not lost. Yet.