The New West: For some New West towns, it's gut-check time amid huge change

Many communities in Greater Yellowstone are searching to find better ways to have prosperous economies and maintain healthy natural landscapes. But can the former thrive without harming the latter?

Sometimes, people say things that hold almost timeless value. A few years ago, Teton County, Wyoming Commissioner Luther Propst uttered the following observation to High Country News.

Propst said it in an interview as he was stepping down from the helm of an organization he founded, the Sonoran Institute, devoted to exploring the intersection of economy and ecology; in particular, highlighting the ways that wise landscape stewardship delivers dividends for human quality of life, community identity and last but not least, the non-human creatures that depend upon habitat protection.

“The problem is that the Lords of Yesteryear never disappeared as we were promised and the challenges of the New West are far worse than we were promised. I don’t want a West of man-camps and gas field booms, nor a West of precious tourist towns that exist to feed a global cowboy/mountain man/Disney/ski resort/New Age fantasy, surrounding by busted towns that are ghettos for workers.”

Read more: https://buckrail.com/the-new-west-for-some-new-west-towns-its-gut-check-time-amid-huge-change/