Hi-Line Living: Five decades of development and stability

It's hard to look through Havre - and much of north-central Montana - without seeing something touched by Bear Paw Development Corp.

Montana's oldest economic development district, Bear Paw is celebrating its 50th year serving this region.

"I think the proof is in the pudding when it comes to successful projects we have been involved with over the past few decades," Bear Paw Executive Director Paul Tuss said.

Bear Paw Development, started in 1969, covered Hill and Blaine counties and included Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations. Local governments recognized the community needed an organization that could provide them with the professional community development serves needed to expand economic development opportunities and make the communities livable.

"You had those two reservations and two counties, and the communities inside them band together and realize that there was more strength in working other than working separately on projects," Tuss said. "If you created a central source of capacity to write grants and administer grants and look for economic opportunities, it was far better than trying to go it alone and doing it on your own with very, very limited resources."

In 1973 Bear Paw expanded, adding Liberty County, and in the late 1990s added Phillips and Chouteau counties, as well he said.

He said someone briefly iserved as executive director, when Bear Paw first started, but Tony Preite soon stepped in as executive director, serving from the late '60s to 1993 when Dick King took the position. King was director until 2000, when he left and Tuss was hired.

"For an organization that has been around for 50 years, really, it's had only three executive directors," Tuss said. "... it's almost unheard of to think of an organization that is 50 years old."

Over the years, Bear Paw has also made several partners, such as the local chambers of commerce, tribal and local governments, he added. He said that these partnerships are not just for name sake but something Bear Paw utilizes in day-to-day operations. They represent one of the best models for building community trust and confidence for various other parts of rural America.

"Without that broad support, without that foundational support, our jobs would be much more difficult," he said.

He said that a significant component of what makes Bear Paw relevant decade after decade is the trust and confidence the board and community leaders have in them. He added that the success Bear Paw has made in the past 50 years goes to the staff, community and board of directors.

Bear Paw was the first economic development district in the state, receiving special designation by the federal Economic Development Administration four years after the administration was established. In addition to being the first in the state, it is one of the oldest in the nation.

"We have a 50-year relationship with EDA no other organization in Montana can speak of," Tuss said. "That's pretty special."

The number of staff has increased since it first began, along with the number of services Bear Paw provides, he said. The problems it faces take hard work and the employees of Bear Paw make sure that the economic development district is getting the best it can.

"It's all about impact," he said.

Any community in the district can look at the projects Bear Paw has done over the years and see the fingerprint it has left in the community in a positive way, he said. He added that one of the best parts of his job, as well as his employees', is to see the smiles on the communitiy members' faces when projects are completed, such as a new business or water system being opened for the first time.

Tuss said that he has served as the executive director for 19 years and, "as they say, the rest is history."

"Bear Paw Development has a very solid reputation and always has," he said.

He said that when he got the position at Bear Paw he saw it as an opportunity in his personal and professional life to take his career to the next level.

"Nineteen wonderful years," he said. "I could not ask for a better professional or personal experience than I have had over the past 19 years."

Like any job it has had peaks and valleys, he added, but the overall experience has been one of wonderment and excitement.

"To be honest I look forward to coming to work every single day," he said. "I am as excited about my job as I was 19 years ago."

He added that not everyone can say that about their job, but his job never never gets monotonous and gives new challenges every day.

"If you look at the various parts and pieces of Bear Paw Development, you can certainly understand why it doesn't get boring around here. There is a lot to do," Tuss said.

The biggest change in Bear Paw has seen is not necessarily change within the corporation but throughout rural American and rural Montana, he said. He added that people need to be ever-vigilant to the opportunities presented to stabilize the economy and make the communities of the region a great place to live and work, opening up rural job opportunities.

Bear Paw has grown over the years, he said. Value-added agriculture has grown and now Bear Paw is one of four food and agricultural development centers spread across the state, mostly in rural areas, he said. This was previously not a focus, but now is a large component of what the organization does.

Another service is Bear Paw's brownfield program, which is one of Montana's largest and most well-respected programs providing that service. The brownfield program identifies and cleans up contaminated properties and gets them back into use for commercial, retail or economic development in some fashion.

"You see all over rural America communities are fighting for their lives," he said. "... We've got challenges, without question, in our region, but we are meeting those head on."

A notable change in rural America the public can see has to do with stability, he said, and Bear Paw helps with that. He said in rural Montana and even nationwide it's difficult to come across an organization that is still doing 50 years later what it was chartered to do in the '60s. Many of other economic development districts and businesses end up folding or repurposing their mission after a time.

"I really believe one of the hallmarks of Bear Paw Development's involvement over a five-decade period in northern Montana is the stability that we've brought to this region," Tuss said.

People know with some certainty that if they are going to be involved in a community or economic development, local government or small business project they go to Bear Paw for help, he said.

Bear Paw has been around for five decades and will continue to adapt and remain relevant in a significant way to the communities and the lives they impact, he added.

"In a sea of uncertainty we've provided great stability for this region in an era where everything seems to be changing and everyday is something different," he said. "We have been, in many, many ways, the North Star for northern Montana in terms of being here helping communities solve problems, helping the entrepreneurial community grow and expand and add jobs. So I think we have made a positive difference. In fact, I know we have."