Photos taken May 19, 2014. Otter Creek and Tongue River Valleys in southeastern Montana.

In 2013, the Southeastern Montana Economic Development Council (SMEDC) held seven community meetings in Ashland, Colstrip, Hysham, Miles City, Broadus, Lame Deer and Forsyth to get community input on developing a comprehensive economic development plan and assess the state of those communities. They also developed an online survey to reach people that wanted to contribute but couldn’t attend an in-person meeting. Each meeting was based on a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and a brainstorming session for proposed projects. In a total of seven community meetings…