Pandemic Crowds Bring 'Rivergeddon' to Montana's Rivers

[Demovictory9]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/us/pandemic-montana-wilderness-rush.html

As urbanites flock to forests and rivers to escape coronavirus threats, trailheads are cramped with parked cars and fishing on the Madison River is like a Disneyland ride.

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A crowded parking lot by a trail in Bozeman, Mont., on Friday.Credit...Janie Osborne for The New York Times



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Housing prices have soared, especially this year, driven by Covid-19 refugees who sometimes buy a home without seeing it. In one month this summer, the median home price jumped by $88,000 to $584,000 — in a city where the average annual wage is about $48,000. Home prices jumped another $35,000 just last month. Even as the Tyvek and two-by-fours of new construction have become ubiquitous, many local residents say they are getting priced out of the market.

The situation has been worsened by the proliferation of short-term rentals to satisfy demand created by out-of-town visitors.

“The pandemic has exacerbated it,” said Bozeman’s mayor, Cyndy Andrus. “We’ve been growing a lot, but it took off this year. They are fleeing big urban areas for the amenities.”

For some residents the biggest blow is the whittling away of their “psychic income.” Many people are willing to make less money in exchange for living in a wild place with uncrowded hiking, fishing and skiing.

That equation has changed dramatically this year, as people flee confinement for the great outdoors — and that includes both new transplants from coronavirus hot spots and local residents who are opting to spend more time outdoors during the pandemic.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. Will we now trample and pave every paradise?

[DFW]

2. Probably.

We seem to trample every paradise we find that is as yet untrampled.

(Even if we don’t put up a parking lot every time)