Life in a Natural
Resource Dependent
Community
My background and
current
responsibilities.
Background
• Regional Welfare
Specialist, Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints – 7
stakes, 3 states
• Executive Director,
Montpelier Gem Team
(community’s economic
development organization)
• Chairman of the Board of
Partners for Prosperity
Description of the Community
• Greater Bear Lake Valley –
High mountain valley
Principle crop – grass & alfalfa
History of phosphate mining
Agriculture & mining dependent
Third lowest wage rate in state
of Idaho
Majority of children on the
school free lunch program
Description of the Community
Aging Population –
Few young families
Declining enrollment in schools
Largest population group – 65
and older
Decline of Business
Community –
Vacant storefronts
Failing businesses
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Exporting children –
only the successful
can return.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Loss of legacy –
children unwilling
to accept the life
and lifestyle.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Working to support
the ranch.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Layoffs in the
mining industry –
enduring the
down times.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
The commute –
second
residences.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
The phenomenon of
under-employment –
the truck and the gun
rack.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
How does the
family get health
insurance and
other benefits?
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Nobody’s home –
divorce,
daycare, the
empty dinner
table.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
We must advertise
on the web – we
attract the
jobless, welfare
recipients, the
uninsured.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
• Several generations
of family living in one
home
• Late marriages –
sometimes no
marriage
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
Asset mapping and
the asset mapping
town meeting.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
The Halliburton
opportunity – talk
about a commute.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
Bear Lake Valley
and its greatest
natural asset –
water.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
A large source of
underground
water – ‘water that
Adam & Eve would
have drunk.’
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
The value of the
western dialect
and of church
missionary service.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
Manufacturing in
the Bear Lake
Valley – we weld
and we sew.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
Our greatest natural
asset – the Bear
Lake and what are
we doing about it?
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
•Downtown
restoration
•Industrial park
•Tourism, tourism and
tourism
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for
Rural People
Two new feasibility
studies – bottled
water and tourism.
Some of the
Good Things
Legacy of our past –
Allinger Park, the
Seniors Center, the
Library.
Some of the
Good Things
Downtown
restoration and
how we’re using
our history.
Some of the
Good Things
Bears everywhere!
Some of the
Good Things
National
Oregon/California
Trail Center.
Some of the
Good Things
Bear Lake
Memorial Hospital
Some of the
Good Things
Free Senior Health
Carnival and
Elementary
Students Health
Fairs
Some of the Things You
Should Know About Us
We’re proud. Often
unwilling to admit
that we’re living in
poverty.
Some of the Things You
Should Know About Us
We’re independent
but very willing to
help each other.
Some of the Things You
Should Know About Us
We’re ambivalent
about growth and
economic
development.
Some of the Things You
Should Know About Us
We don’t like to
feel that we’re the
subject of
analysis.