The Gift that Continues to Give
Friends,
When Susan Heyneman broke her kneecap last year, she told us she was lucky. When you live on a ranch in the rural West and get sick or injured, getting the right medical care can require a day of driving. But Susan had access to a new hospital in nearby Red Lodge, Montana - a small community nestled in the shadows of the Beartooth Mountains and a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.
Getting care in Red Lodge spared Susan several weeks of driving 140 miles roundtrip to Billings. But even more important to her was the fact that this new community-owned hospital symbolized a remarkable turnaround for Red Lodge - a turnaround that Sonoran Institute's generous donors helped spur.
Twenty years ago, Red Lodge was a struggling community. For decades after its coal mines closed, the town's fortunes and population were in decline. Empty storefronts darkened its downtown. You could buy a house for less than the cost of a new car. Still, the citizens of Red Lodge loved their community and were proud of their heritage and culture.
Then, as has happened in so many Western communities blessed with natural beauty and amenities, Red Lodge showed signs of becoming a "boom town" in the West's new economy. People from other places brought new energy and money - a double-edged sword. New opportunities also brought "ranchettes" dotting what was formerly prime, working ranchland, and plans for mini-malls threatened the profitability of the historic downtown. Uncertainty about potential change to the character of the valley began to tear at this once tight-knit community.
That is where our supporters came in. In 1992, a newly formed Sonoran Institute put donations to work in Red Lodge. We assisted an ongoing "community conversation" in which citizens discussed their town and its future. John Clayton, a long-time resident of Red Lodge said, "The Sonoran Institute showed us that we could articulate a vision of the future for our community, and that if we did so we might have the power to realize large parts of it. That was an incredibly empowering and surprising message for us to hear, and timely enough to have resonated through the years."
Twenty years later, gifts from our donors are still paying dividends in Red Lodge. The task forces that grew out of the Sonoran Institute's workshops there evolved into the Beartooth Front Community Forum. After two decades, this citizen-based organization is still actively building consensus and empowering the people of Red Lodge to create its own future by building programs for children, local agriculture, and affordable housing. As a result, Red Lodge today is a vibrant community with a thriving downtown. Conservation easements on ranches maintain open land around the city and ensure that ranching remains part of the local economy. And, with the power of their united support and all-out community fundraising, Red Lodge built its new state-of-the-art hospital. The effect of Sonoran Institute's work is evident to Susan every time she drives to town, which is fortunately not quite as often now that her knee has recovered.
Because of the generosity of our contributors over the past two decades, we have been able to support countless communities throughout the West as they create and fulfill their vision for a vibrant future. As the Sonoran Institute celebrates its 20th anniversary, we hope you'll join us so that success stories like Red Lodge become a reality for other communities.
Your gift will fund projects that will benefit other communities across the West for decades to come:
* Places like Teton County, Idaho, get out from the stranglehold of the sprawling development and housing collapse that left three-quarters of its approved home lots vacant.
* Returning life-giving water to the native peoples and wildlife dependent on the Colorado River and its delta.
* Training officials in Rifle and other Colorado communities on how to incorporate energy efficiency into their planning process.
* Helping find ways to permanently protect key areas of the Sonoran Desert for wildlife and recreation.
These initiatives don't happen without your contributions. Please join the Sonoran Institute and help us continue our important work by writing a check today and returning it in the enclosed envelope. You can also donate online at our website.
Thank you for your support. Together, we truly are shaping the future of the West.
Sincerely,
Luther Propst
Executive Director |
Featured Video
Celebrating 20 Years of
Shaping the Future of the West
Luther Propst, executive director of the Sonoran Institute, is interviewed on Arizona Illustrated - Arizona Public Media. The Institute is celebrating 20 years of conservation successes, and a recent move to downtown Tucson, Arizona.
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