Fwd: Montana: Live on state's terms, Brokaw tells newcomers on DVD

[Mary Scriver <prairiem@3rivers.net>]

  0000,0000,FFFFhttp://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/05/25/news/mtregional/news07.txt

  May 25, 2007

  Live on state's terms, Brokaw tells newcomers on DVD

  By Associated Press

  BOZEMAN - A new DVD, hosted by former “NBC Nightly News” anchor and part-time
  Montana resident Tom Brokaw, tells newcomers that their share of Big Sky
  Country comes with some responsibility.

  “Montana is a beautiful place, but you have to live here on its terms,”
  Brokaw says.

  The 26-minute film, “Path to Eden: Preserving Montana's Resources and Culture
  for the Future,” introduces viewers to several issues facing property owners
  in an effort to make them better stewards of the land.

  It includes a brief overview on the state's stream-access law, information on
  noxious weeds, a look at ranch management and a general emphasis on being
  neighborly.

  The DVD was produced by the Rural Landscape Institute, a Bozeman group that
  promotes family farms and ranches. It is free, although the organization is
  asking for a $10 donation from anyone asking for a copy.

  Counties throughout Montana have long published Codes of the West for
  newcomers, which basically warn them not to expect the same level of
  government services they received back East and not to be shocked if, say,
  they wake up one morning to see a rancher driving cattle through their yards.

  “When you read them, they sound almost punitive,” said William Bryan Jr.,
  executive director of the Rural Landscape Institute.

  “Path to Eden” takes a gentler approach. The video features sweeping Montana
  landscapes and images of people working on farms and fishing in streams.

  Through narration and interviews with longtime residents, the film conveys
  the point that there is a way of life in the state that those who already
  live here want to see preserved.

  “The kind of people that we would like to see here are those who have an
  appreciation of the special qualities of the state,” Brokaw says. “Not just
  the lands and the mountains and the water, but the people who came before
  you, and the investment that they've made with their lives, their resources
  and the future they hope to have for their children and grandchildren.”

  On the Net

  Path to Eden: www.pathtoeden.org