Author Calls Love Affair With Resource-Extraction Industries Misguided

In the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula, lumber mills have been the leading industry as far back as most western Montanans can remember.

“A large part of the population continues to think the entire local economy is still based on lumber,” says economist Thomas Power.

“But the fact is,” he reports, “not a single mill still stands.”

Even so, says the chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Montana in Missoula, most Missoulians today feel threatened by any move to change forest management practices.

“They are convinced that great numbers of workers will be laid off in the lumber mills,” says Power, “when in reality, there is nobody to be laid off.”

The myth of Missoula’s lumber mills typifies, says the nationally recognized authority on the changing economy of the West, this region’s lingering love affair with the natural resource extraction industries that once underpinned the economy. It is a fixation, he argues, that impedes the economic progress of communities throughout the region, including Spokane.

Western communities that are prospering, he says, are capitalizing on quality of life - not trying to prop up “relatively declining” resource-based industries at the expense of the environment and quality of life.

Resource-based industries no longer drive the economy. Quality of life does.

This is the basic thesis of a provocative new book by Power entitled “Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies, the Search for a Value of Place.” The author delivered an oral summation of his published work at Auntie’s Bookstore last Wednesday.

Not only is preserving quality of life compatible with economic progress, he emphasized in his talk and in an earlier interview, but it is imperative.

“We are driving down the freeway staring hypnotically into the rear view mirror,” said the economist, “when we should be looking at where we are going. The view behind us isn’t all that encouraging.

“But shifting the view from the rear view mirror and the past to the present and the future ought to give us a more optimistic framework,” he said. “We are in a position to make choices to protect the quality of life assets of our region and our local communities.”

Power developed data suggesting that resource-extraction industries relied upon so heavily by western communities in the past no longer are the most vital components of the local job picture. His numbers crunching shows instead that conservation of natural resources, protection of the environment, enhancement of recreational assets, and development of quality of life amenities are the keys to building stable, healthy, local economies.

Thus, he argues, sensible regulations to manage growth and protect lifestyle assets do much more to attract employers and payrolls than to scare them away.

Obviously, this is one economist that environmentalists love.

AWB officials to meet in Spokane

An array of state agency directors will air their views on issues facing government and business May 29 and 30 at the Association of Washington Business board’s spring meeting in Spokane.

Speakers include Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons, Labor & Industries Director Gary Moore. Keynoter of the event will be former pro quarterback Jeff Kemp, currently executive director of the Washington Family Council.

The Bellevue-based nonprofit, nonpartisan, research and education organization encourages Washington citizens to create communities which value and nurture families.

Mortgage lender opens doors

One of the 10 largest financial holding companies in the United States has entered the Spokane mortgage market with an office at 521 N. Argonne.

“This is the beginning of our expansion into the Northwest,” said Bob Mastrandrea, Northwest regional sales manager of Minneapolis-based Banc One Mortgage, which has 200-plus offices in 16 states.

Banc One Mortgage is a subsidiary of $101-billion Banc One Corp.

Joe Pettit, a veteran of the Spokane housing industry, manages the new branch office. “Joe brings with him many years of experience in the real estate industry in the Spokane area,” said Mastrandrea.

A resident of Spokane since he was an infant, Pettit has worked his entire career in real estate. He was in the commercial end of the real estate trade 10 years, then spent another 10 years in construction, building residential and small commercial projects in Spokane.

He and wife Joanne own Ironwood Homes Inc. “When I was asked to open a branch here for Banc One, it was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass,” says Pettit. “My wife told me, ‘You go ahead - I’ll run the business by myself,”’ and she does. What’s more, says Pettit, “She does a great job of running a construction company.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

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