2021 News in Review

Even in farflung northwest Montana, many of us rang in the 2021 new year from beneath a storm cloud of pandemic-related headlines that lifted just long enough for us to witness the horror of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, shaking our American democracy on a magnitude whose true scale we’re only now learning. 

Still, with new state and federal administrations in place, we tracked our vaccine eligibility based on a tiered distribution plan and waited for the tide to turn, reluctantly allowing our confidence to grow as President Biden charted the country’s return to pre-covid normalcy by the Fourth of July. Upon reaching that false prominence, from which the only clear view that emerged was of the hordes of summertime tourists marching our way, other distant objectives appeared and faded in anticlimax and interminable waits. 

We were still tip-toeing through the Delta variant and its highly transmissible properties when along came Omicron, an even more virulent strain of the coronavirus, raising the antes on infection rates even if it seems a safe-ish bet that the symptoms will remain mild. For now.

Political divisions widened as the Montana Legislature convened for its biannual 90-day session and, despite the state’s Republican sweep in the 2020 election, allegations of fraud persist. State and local governments grappled with measures to promote vaccination or, alternately, protect the rights of those entrenched in their opposition to immunization, which many still see as a specter of government overreach. 

Reviewing the entire year in news is a dizzying endeavor and we can’t possibly convey the blunt-force impact of the daily cycles in a single year-end summary. But as we reflect on the momentous year, let us continue to absorb the lessons it has taught, and usher in a new year with hope and optimism, always looking to the next high mark on the horizon.

COVID-19 Vaccine

In January, Montana trotted out its phased COVID-19 immunization plan that prioritized vulnerable populations and health care personnel before expanding to other essential frontline workers, such as educators, and, soon thereafter, everyone else. Flathead County began to tackle the challenge of immunizing its population of vaccine-eligible residents, who initially turned out in droves. More than 11 months later, however, and only about 43% of the county’s eligible residents have been immunized. Although public health leaders continue to encourage the unvaccinated to get their first shots, even hosting a few pop-up clinics during the lead-up to the holidays, the majority of vaccine doses administered in the county since September have been booster doses.

Montana Legislature

The Montana Legislature wrapped up its 2021 session in late April after passing a $12 billion two-year budget, setting a framework for spending $2 billion in federal stimulus money over the next four years and implementing a policy to enact the state’s voter-approved recreational marijuana law. The session began with clashes over whether lawmakers should be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus — the Republican majority decided against it — and ended with everyone in the state 16 and over being eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination and a rebounding economy. Republicans held a two-thirds majority in the Legislature and, for the first time in 16 years, the state also had a Republican governor, giving conservative lawmakers clearance to pass legislation that had been vetoed by previous Democratic governors. Lawmakers passed bills to restrict abortions, relax gun restrictions and reshape the judiciary while they declined to confirm several people nominated to posts and commissions by former Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat.

Glacier National Park Ticketed Entry

Glacier National Park launched its temporary ticketed entry system for motorists entering the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor this summer, adopting the strategy in an effort to help manage congestion and avoid the need for closures as a confluence of challenges related to COVID-19, road construction and industrial-strength tourism came to bear on the scenic byway. The upshot was a more navigable thoroughfare during the peak summer months, despite the din of frustration from the visiting public and hot spots of unintended consequences as other park entrances and surrounding gateway communities reeled from the visitation pressure. In December, park officials released the details of next year’s ticketed entry system, which will run May 27 through Sept. 11, 2022 and is set to include the Polebridge Entrance Station.

Wildfire

Several prominent Flathead Valley wildfires captivated our attention last summer as large regional complexes burned for months, blotting out the skyline, forcing some of us indoors due to unhealthy air quality, and prompting prolonged burn restrictions. Among the region’s most destructive blazes was the Boulder 2700 wildfire that exploded July 31 on the eastshore of Flathead Lake near Polson, consuming several dozen structures and displacing residents for weeks. The Hay Creek Fire near Glacier National Park put North Fork residents on evacuation notice and at times threatened to make a run for the off-the-grid community of Polebridge, while wildfire in Lincoln and Sanders counties also forced evacuations.

Growth

The U.S. Census not only determined that Montana will gain a second U.S. House seat in 2022 after the Treasure State added about 100,000 people over the last decade for a growth spurt of about 10%, but it continues to reveal the true scale of growth in Flathead County, which added about 15,000 people in that same 10-year period and is the second-fastest growing county in the state.

Workforce Housing

The persistent and worsening lack of affordable housing has been an issue in Whitefish and the surrounding valley for years, but the abrupt influx of new residents in the Flathead since the pandemic began has further strained the problem. As a result, home prices have spiked in Whitefish. In October 2019, the median sales price in Whitefish was $410,000. Two years later, in October 2021, it had jumped to $782,000, and the Montana Legislature nullified the city’s inclusionary zoning program designed to offset the market disparity and build out the housing inventory. Similar price spikes are being seen across the Flathead Valley, including in Kalispell and Columbia Falls, places that have long been regarded as affordable alternatives to Whitefish. Meanwhile, the county’s rental inventory is scarce and its market cutthroat as property owners are lured by the lucrative demand for short-term rental options at the expense of sustainable long-term arrangements that prop up the local workforce.

Grizzly Bears

With grizzly populations in both the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems deemed recovered and poised for delisting, much of today’s bear management centers on how to resolve conflicts between people and grizzlies, particularly as they both increase their respective populations and expand their presence on the landscape. Although state and federal wildlife managers are still reviewing data from 2021, the past year appears to be among the busiest in terms of human conflicts. In northwest Montana, bear managers with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks describe a call volume approaching 300 reports of conflicts related to bears, documenting 33 captures of 32 individual bears, nine of which had to be killed as management removals. 

Legal Weed

Voters approved the use and sale of recreational marijuana in the November 2020 election and Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the “Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act,” or House Bill 701, this past May. The Department of Revenue will begin accepting license applications on Jan. 1, 2022, when licensed medical marijuana providers will be allowed to begin selling pot for recreational purposes. The city of Whitefish will allow dispensaries in all of its commercial business districts and expects to see licensed providers open new recreational businesses as early as mid-February due to the month-long permitting process. In Kalispell, the new dispensaries will be limited to the city’s industrial zones.

Volunteer Boards

Local government boards became ground zero for contentious battles over masking and vaccine mandates, teaching curriculum, and even public library protocol as pandemic fatigue and political divisions manifested in combative and confrontational community forums. Once thought of as sleepy affairs characterized by low attendance and budget discussions, school board meetings became microcosmic representations of the country’s culture wars writ large, prompting protests and picketers, while politically charged health boards were viewed by some as a last defense against government overreach.

Student Suicide Clusters

A disturbing trend of youth suicide emerged over the past year as an unprecedented number of high school-aged students died by suicide. The suicide cluster devastated the Flathead Valley as prevention leaders, educators and mental health experts tried to provide answers and outreach, but struggled to keep pace with the tragic deaths. The only upshot were the community-wide discussions that occurred as a result of the crisis and the awareness raised as a response.

Land Conservation

Hundreds of thousands of acres of northwest Montana timberland was set aside through a succession of conservation easements designed to allow for sustainable timber harvests, wildlife habitat protection, and continued recreational access. Existing land conservation goals gained urgency due to the unprecedented development pressure bearing down on western Montana, while funding was more accessible due to the Great American Outdoors Act that authorized billions for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.