Recent Posts – Scott McMillion's articles and broadcasts:
“Economic Slump Hits Residents of ‘The Last Best Place’”
Guest Essay
”The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.”
Originally Aired: November 12, 2008
Introduction by Ray Suarez: “Twenty years ago, Montana offered sprawling landscapes and inexpensive living, but the economic meltdown is changing life in “the last best place.” Guest essayist Scott McMillion of the Montana Quarterly reflects on the changes, including job losses, poverty and tight budgets.”
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“The Fires Next Time”
By Scott McMillion
NewWest.net
Sept. 26, 2008
Think about wildfire in the West and it’s hard to picture a rosy future, except for the sunsets bleeding through the smoke.
Climate change, spreading subdivisions, a scarcity of skilled fire bosses, and the threat of legal action against firefighters if things go awry all combine to create dark and smoky prospects.
Click [...]
“Fire School”
By Scott McMillion
Nature Conservancy Magazine
Autumn 2008
The rain has finally stopped, but Ben Renfro is stuck inside on this sunny Florida morning, pushing paper and licking his pencil. He knows he has to do the paperwork — has to, that is, if he wants to set the woods on fire today.
Renfro runs a firetruck for a [...]
“Give Blood” Mosquitoes, flies and ticks connect us to the food chain in most unpleasant ways
By Scott McMillion
Montana Quarterly
Summer, 2008
Here’s something to think about the next time your neck and arms have become an itching, oozing mess.
Or when the whining in your ears makes you think seriously about spending the night in a lake, underwater.
Or when you’re inhaling flies the size of your thumbnail.
“The Perfect Storm” First in a Four Part Series about wildfire
By Scott McMillion
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
June 29, 2008
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – It started out dry and then it got drier. The rains stayed away, but the wind showed up in a fury and it stayed mad all summer, puffing out its cheeks over and over again. There was lightning all over the place. An outfitter got [...]
“The Aftermath and the Lessons” Second in a four-part series about wildfire
By Scott McMillion
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
June 30,2008
After the fires of 1988, scientists from around the nation trooped to Yellowstone National Park, analyzing the aftermath. They found an amazingly resilient landscape.
Click here to read the entire story.
“Lawyers, Smoke and Money” Third in a four-part series about wildfire
By Scott McMillion
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
July 1, 2008
Drier forests, more homes in the woods and a litigious society combine to make a risky future.
Dick Mangan has fought fires around the country for 40 years and can wear a number of hats: operations chief, planning chief and safety officer.
He’s also past president of the International Association of [...]
Reporter’s Notebook: “When Wildfires Burn, Wear Your Boots.” Last in a four-part series about wildfire
By Scott McMillion
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
July 2, 2008
When I showed up to cover my first wildfire in 1988, I was so green that I had rubber flip-flops on my feet.
An information officer at Grant Village in Yellowstone National Park took pity on me and scrounged up a pair of size 12 boots and some fire-resistant Nomex clothing. [...]
“Reflections on Voting in Montana’s Big Sky Country”
PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer
Originally broadcast May 30, 2008
As Montana prepares to vote in its primary next Tuesday, guest essayist Scott McMillion of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and the Montana Quarterly finds a different kind of pleasure in going to the polls.
Streaming video
Transcript
“Ted Turner Puts his Money where his Heart Is”
By Scott McMillion
Bozeman Daily Chroncile
April 17, 2008
Photography by Erik Petersen
Through his philanthropy and his activism, Ted Turner, at 69, is working on hunger, malaria, global warming, red-cockaded woodpeckers, nuclear annihilation and the volunteer fire department at the tiny town of Alder, Montana. Plus he’s writing a book, skiing at Big Sky and hoping to hear [...]
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Scott McMillion has been an award-winning journalist and author for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Mark of the Grizzly," now in a new revised and updated edition, and has been senior editor of the critically acclaimed Montana Quarterly for the past six years.
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