Whitefish Chamber praises

team effort on trust lands

By Sheila Bowen

During the last game of the World Series I was struck with emotion as the camera scanned the faces of the fans and team members while the words to the Star Spangled Banner filled the ballpark.

The reverence was genuine and, in that period of time, those thousands of people were brought together because of one common interest - the ball game.

The 13,000 acres of School Trust Land surrounding Whitefish has also brought citizens, who have strong feelings, together about the future of the lands.

For over a year, a dedicated advisory committee worked diligently to complete a plan that will be presented to the School Land Board this mid November.

The fervor over these lands emulates the passion I witnessed during the World Series games.

The advisory committee hit a grand slam during the planning process when we hired Marty Zeller, President of Conservation Partners - a land conservation and rural planning firm specializing in community-based strategies that protect lands with high conservation or natural resources.

Communication was the key aspect of keeping the process on track and it could not have been done without the strong support of the Whitefish Pilot and the Daily Inter Lake.

The challenge was keeping the community informed, so their voices could be heard.

A home run for the committee was the feature story in mid-September by Camden Easterling of the Daily Inter Lake.

It accurately summarized the plan and called upon the citizens of the Valley to take notice and give their input.

Camden credits the success of the feature to Alan Elm, advisory committee chair, the DNRC staff, committee members and the community for being so forthright with information.

As phase one of the planning process wraps up, we all agree, it was the dedication of the committee and the citizens as a whole that brought the plan to fruition.

Our hope is for the faces of future generations to be awe-struck, as they peer at the precious 13,000 acres surrounding Whitefish, knowing that their ancestors developed a plan for school trust lands that kept Whitefish special, while increasing revenue for Montana schools.

Sheila Bowen is the Director of the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce