Ted Turner puts his money where his heart is…

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

GALLATIN GATEWAY – Ted Turner says things are getting better in the world, but they aren’t good enough yet. So he’s aiming to fix a few.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE Ted Turner looks over some of the vast expanse of land he owns at Spanish Creek on which he raises bison for his newest venture, his chain of 55 Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants throughout the country. Compared to a decade ago, fewer people live in utter poverty.

He wants to cut that number ever more. Free trade among nations will help do that, he says, so he’s trying to get his fellow Democrats to understand that.

And while he sees global warming as a growing risk, more people are aware of it, partly because of the environmental groups he funds.

“You’re talking about a lot of people who are upset about it,” Turner said in a recent interview at his Flying D Ranch. “And I think we’re going to make them take a swing and try to do something about it.”

 

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Conservation in the West

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

Region’s natural beauty draws newcomers, bolsters economy, triggers bitter battles

ERIK PETERSEN/Chronicle A deck on the main lodge at the Sun Ranch overlooks a sweeping view of the Madison Range. “Henry David Thoreau didn’t build a trophy home.”

Jim Barrett, Park County Environmental Council

Thanks to modern four-wheel-drive vehicles, you can live at an elevation of 7,000 feet and still be a soccer mom.

“It’s as much of a revolution and a change in the demographics as the horse was for the Plains Indian,” said archeologist Larry Lahren, who is also a Park County commissioner. “It’s been a revolution in terms of people moving into this area, particularly the hinterlands.”

 

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The $100M house ….. (Big Sky, Montana) that Blixeth built…

By SCOTT McMillion Chronicle Staff Writer

BIG SKY – This is the house that Tim Blixseth built, and it starts with 120,000 square feet – almost three acres – of boards and timbers and stone called the Warren Miller Lodge at the Yellowstone Club.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE A pair of skiers rides the lift at the Yellowstone Club where 15 lifts carry a thin stream of passengers from mansion doorways to mountaintop, and lift lines are nonexistent. “That’s your basic $100 million lodge,” Blixseth said.

The lodge contains ski shops and restaurants, lobbies and bars and lots of big, gas-fired fireplaces. Fine art adorns the walls, bronze statuary stands guard everywhere. The wine list will blow your hair back, or at least the prices will. Almost everywhere you look, an employee is cleaning something. The furniture is heavy. The spaces are expansive. Ceilings rise and rise and rise. The heat bill must be incredible.

Upstairs, you find condominiums, some serviced by private elevators. The biggest condo measures 5,900 square feet and each one of those square feet recently sold for about $1,100. That works out to roughly $6.5 million.

And the lodge is just the gateway to this very private and expensive club, where nobody enters until the security guard gets the OK.

 

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Money Changes Everything…

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

EDITOR’S NOTE: The economy in the Gallatin County area has boomed in recent years, in large part because wealthy people have built homes here. That trend has spread a lot of money around. This week the Chronicle takes an in-depth look at this new economy. Staff Writer Scott McMillion looks at business, philanthropy, agriculture, the environment and the people driving the new economy. Opinions differ as to whether the new wealth is a godsend or an affliction. Either way, the effects are both profound and critical to the region’s future.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE Yellowstone Club owner Tim Blixseth stands in front of the 120,000-square-foot Warren Miller Lodge at the club. “That’s your basic $100 million lodge,” Blixseth said. Robert Redford and Tim Blixseth don’t have much in common, aside from their big impact on Montana’s landscape.

One is a Hollywood actor, movie producer and liberal environmental activist. The other is a jet-setting billionaire who wheels and deals in luxury real estate.

But they both changed Montana. Between them, they’ve helped shoulder the state into a new economy, one increasingly based on real estate, construction and recreation. It’s what economists call an “amenity” economy, one that relies on scenic views, pleasing lifestyles and portable money.

Redford, with his beautifully produced and photographed 1992 movie “A River Runs Through It,” made a movie star of both Brad Pitt and Montana’s scenery. The film generated tons of glowing publicity about the state, ignited a new craze for fly fishing and started a population influx and demographic shift that the Montana Department of Commerce has dubbed “A River Runs Through It Syndrome.”

 

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