Grant Sasek

As a resident of Montana, I don't often need to be reminded of the importance of the natural beauty surrounding those of us living here. But a study just released illustrates just how important a pretty view can be for our economy.

Apparently, we can, at least to some extent, quantify in dollars and cents the value of a spectacular view.

According to a Michigan State University researcher, visitors to Glacier National Park in northwest Montana spend more than $100 million a year in the communities surrounding it. That spending supports nearly 1,700 jobs that are sorely needed in struggling communities like Kalispell, Whitefish and Browning.

The report adds that nationwide, national parks are responsible for generating more than $30 billion a year to the U.S. economy and creating some 250,000 jobs. And those numbers only include spending done within 60 miles of a national park. It does not include spending as travelers pass through other communities on the way to their destinations.

I bring this up because I do forget sometimes that all of that empty space isn't just valuable in some heady, green way. Natural beauty doesn't just give us an opportunity to have a spiritual moment or to go "ahh."

All of that undisturbed property is money in the bank and jobs for a lot of folks - maybe even for some real estate agents.

In many cites and towns, the natural setting drives people to want to live there, to buy a home and raise their children there. Curb appeal doesn't just apply as a potential buyer pulls alongside a house. It reaches to the horizon and to the scenes taken in along the way.

So while we struggle with 8 percent unemployment and the housing market continues to struggle, let's remember those undisturbed views can translate into jobs and money in local economies.

Sure we also should build the pipeline and mine the coal. We need all the jobs we can get. Let's just remember that other important jobs and a big chunk of change also come from that beautiful horizon we usually appreciate for other reasons.

IT IS the first Friday of the month and here in Missoula that means locals will be heading downtown for another First Friday celebration of the arts.

Between 15 to 20 galleries, museums and other downtown businesses will be open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to give Missoulians an opportunity to check out new exhibits, visit with artists and business owners and to enjoy another busy evening downtown.

Along with all of the art to be viewed, there will be music to listen to, appetizers and drink to indulge in and a chance to run into friends, family and co-workers.

This month's First Friday is to feature more venues than in the past and with temperatures expected to be in the 20s, organizers expect a large turnout. To find the event, head downtown. From there, it will be hard to miss.

A few of the venues being featured during the art walk include:

• VonCommon Art Studios and Exhibitions, 127 E. Main, Suite 316. Music by Mountain Breathers and DJ Mermaid and art by Jonathan Marquis, Becky Jean Swantner, Chase McBride and
  Adelaide Every.
• Monte Dolack Gallery, 139 West Front Street. An exhibition by Dolack and music by Dan Dubuque.
• Selvedge Studio, 509 S. Higgins, 6:30 p.m. The Project Selvedge fashion show, an amateur fashion design competition includes live fashion show and judging.

First Friday at Mismo, 1900 W. Broadway. Music by The Whizpops and a chance for the kids to enjoy face painting, pizza and the Bounce House. There is a fee for this.

Families First Children's Museum, 225 W. Front Street. Art from area students.

Dark Room, 135 N. Higgins. Dramatic landscape photographs by Eric Pallister.

There also are numerous other exhibits, events and musical performances scattered throughout the downtown area.

My best advice is to put on a warm coat, walking shoes and head downtown. From there, just start exploring and see what you find along the way. The odds are good you'll run into someone you know and something you like.

Grant Sasek works for Real Estate Pipeline, an on-line lead generation service.

I live in Montana. It is February. The pale light of the short days of winter, temperatures below freezing and snow crusted with frost define my part of the world. That won't change anytime soon.

I sit in the office, considering where to call. Enough buyers come into our service that almost anywhere in North America is an option. So I look for leads in Florida, southern California, maybe South Carolina and Arizona. I pull up websites of faraway agents featuring patios and pools, green grass and best of all, beaches and oceans.

For the next eight hours, I live vicariously through the websites of others.

I ask an agent outside San Diego how warm it is as we speak. Then I laugh and add "You win." I talk with an agent in Punta Gorda sitting in an open air restaurant. I speak with another Florida agent who promises to call back after an afternoon round of golf. Yet another trys to decide how best to feature a home's lush landscaping.

But I am in Montana and it is February. After enough, I put on my vest, then my coat, I slip on my gloves and hat and begin the careful walk home on icy sidewalks. I pass the blocks thinking about the choices we make - and the ones we don't.

Can a person really buy a small condo within walking distance of the beach for $60,000? Why don't we all live in Florida?

As soon as I ask the question, I know the answer. Once, I lived on a Caribbean island where bars and restaurants are on beaches, days are always warm and Christmas is celebrated in shorts. But there, Christmas presents were delivered by a postman rather than by a loved one. So, on an earlier February, I left the island and returned to Montana. And here I have been ever since.

For better or worse, Montana is home. Almost always has been, probably always will be. Even when I lived elsewhere, I knew where home was waiting.

Here, for me, memories are as long as the shadows, history becomes personal, relationships are old. I am here for the same reason many of us are where we find ourselves. It is about "being home."

It is a distinction real estate agents deal with daily - that difference between house and home.

We live in a mobile society, people moving across the country and around the world. Sometimes they seek a house, a place to stop, rest and find shelter until moving again.

Others want a home, a place children and trees have time to grow, a place where both can grow roots and become attached to the particular ground under them.

I continue my walk, pull the coat a bit tighter.

I think that if I ever buy a house, it will be within walking distance of a beach. But, when the time comes to buy a home, it will be here, in Montana, where light grows short and temperatures fall.

And despite my winter whine, that is just fine with me.

Grant Sasek works for Real Estate Pipeline, an Internet lead generation service.