This is sad.
Montana population estimated to surpass 1 million
As population density increases, the pressures on not only the environment, but on basic human liberties also increase. Especially unhelpful is “Californication,” where people who come to feel that their overly urbanized homes are unfulfilling, so they move to rural, forested, mountainous, etc. areas. That would be fine, except far too many of them bring with them the same attitudes and voting habits that made their previous homes unpleasant. I saw that in Colorado, where cities like Denver and especially the People’s Republic of Boulder were turning into some very un-western places. I’ve seen it out here in rural Utah, though fortunately at a very low level, and the people who have tried to bend the local ways to *their* ways have been largely laughed at.
And hell, one of the great things about the mountain west is that the low population density leads to nice dark skies. As populations increase, so does light pollution. Lose the skies, you lose some of the wonder of the universe, and people forget that there really is a bigger world out there.