But what about Three Forks? Will it too be engulfed by the growth wave?
That's what community leaders and a a group of researchers from Montana State University-Bozeman are trying to find out as part of a multi-year, multi-faceted study of the community's social and economic make-up and the impacts of future growth.
The 1990 census showed the town had a population of 1200. But a recent "head count" by city officials found the population to be 1800, says Three Forks Mayor Gene Townsend.
This growth doesn't alarm Townsend. "Growth is good if done right," he says.
The research project is a way to provide information the community will need to plan for its future, says one of the project leaders, Bruce Maxwell, a professor in the MSU Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences.
"We're looking for the connections between how the community is structured and its use of land and agriculture," says Maxwell.
The first part of the project, funded by the Northwest Area Foundation, involved surveying residents about where they work and shop and their attitudes about living in the area.
"What we found was a high level of satisfaction, more so than you would usually see in a community that's growing like Three Forks is," says MSU political scientist Jerry Johnson, also a principle researcher on the project.
Because of its proximity to Bozeman, the researchers had hypothesized that Three Forks was becoming a "bedroom" community to Bozeman.They found that not to be the case, says Johnson.
"We thought more and more people were choosing to live in Three Forks because they could no longer afford to live in Bozeman. But, in fact, most people who live in Three Forks are there because they want to be there, because they have jobs there."
Nor is Three Forks being overrun with newcomers to Montana, Johnson adds. Most of the newcomers to the area are actually from other parts of Montana.
Though Mayor Townsend says he was surprised by this finding, he reflects that perhaps he shouldn't be, in part, because of Three Forks' stable economy. A talc plant, mining and lumber industries, small businesses, and farming and ranching provide the main jobs in the area.
"There are not many commuters to Bozeman," says Johnson, except the 35 percent that do most of their shopping in Bozeman. Only 14 percent do most of their shopping in Three Forks, according to the survey.
Like residents in most stable communities, Three Forks residents are concerned about their community's future. They want to maintain the rural quality of life and maintain jobs for their children, says Johnson.
"A big concern is whether the kids will be able to stay there" and find good employment. That will in part depend on the future of good-paying jobs in the area, and "that's a big question mark," says Johnson. Will jobs continue to be from extractive industries and agriculture? Or will the economy gradually become more technology oriented or based on tourism and recreation?
If the area does lure "high tech" jobs, will the young people from the area be able to compete successfully for them? The 1990 cemsus showed graduation rates for Three Forks students are slightly lower than elsewhere in the county, says Johnson.
These are issues the MSU team recently posed to the town council, along with the results of the community survey.
A critical part of the project, now in its third year, has been to involve community residents in the process. With the help of MSU Professor Cliff Montagne, the group has worked with a local advisory group, which includes Mayor Townsend, and helped develop a workbook the community can use to assess changes and devise strategies.
"We're not hear to tell you that you should do things a certain way based on what we've found," Montagne told the council. "We can help monitor what's going on in the community, but the community needs to decide what its goals are."
Maxwell and some other members of the team are particularly interested in the community's goals regarding agriculture and open space. What happens to agriculture if the "wave" of tourism and growth hits the area, he wonders?
Almost 90 percent of Three Forks residents strongly support maintaining a "healthy and thriving agricultural sector." The question is whether that support would change if the community became more populated by people lured to the area because of its open space, blue-ribbon trout streams and quality of the environment.
When too many people come, they can destroy the qualities they initially sought, says Maxwell. "Whether people know it or not, agriculture is one of the reasons we have open space," he says.
To help Three Forks and Willow Creek residents see what their future could hold, the researchers are using geographic information system computer software to show how various land uses and development will affect land in and surrounding the community. The system will include data from soil and vegetation surveys, aerial photos and land use surveys to help researchers predict what the area will look like in the year 2010.
"Rather than just imagining what the area will look like, this tool will actually help them see the effect of predictable changes," says Maxwell.
In addition, MSU graduate researcher Julie Stoughton is working to get the Three Forks High School science classes involved in monitoring water quality. The information they gather will also feed into the computerized information system.
Now, given no visual impacts of growth in the form of new subdivisions, loss of agricultural land and general degradation of the environment, most residents do not support the need for planning to guide future growth and development, say the researchers.
Half the residents surveyed felt that if agricultural land were sub-divided, private property owners should be able to develop the land as they see fit.
On the other hand, almost 65 percent of those surveyed felt that agricultural land should be sub-divided with consideration for the views of others. Most of those surveyed also agreed that agricultural land should be developed with consideration for conditions such as water supply and soil erosion.
Perhaps this is a logical response, given that Three Forks is not currently feeling the same kinds of pressures from growth and development that the rest of the Gallatin Valley is dealing with.
"The wave hasn't hit Three Forks," says Maxwell. "Maybe the wave will go around it."
THREE FORKS -- Who are the residents of Three Forks and what kinds of attitudes do they have about their community?
Montana State University-Bozeman researchers, as part of a multi-year research project, conducted a survey of Three Forks residents. Here are some highlights of their results.
Almost 68 percent of those surveyed agreed with this statement: "I'd rather live in the town I live in now than anywhere else."
Almost 25 percent disagreed with this statement: "When they move here, newcomers make a good faith effort to understand the community of Three forks/Willow Creek.
"In the past five years would you say your community has become more or less desirable as a place to live, or has it stayed about the same?" About 27 percent said it was more desirable , while 44 percent said the community is about the same, and over 23 percent said the community is less desirable.
The respondents overwhelmingly supported this statement: "Having agricultural land in production near Three Forks is important for the quality of life in the community."
"When agricultural land is subdivided, the most appropriate form of development should be as the owner sees fit to develop the land since it is private property." Over 14 percent strongly agreed, about 36 percent agreed, almost 17 percent neither agreed or disagreed, over 21 percent disagreed and 8 percent strongly disagreed.
However, around 40 percent either strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that "agricultural land should not be subdivided."
Most people disagreed with the statement "Private land should be open for pubic recreation."
Also, most people disagreed with the statement "Tourism negatively affects the environment around Three Forks/Willow Creek."