DOROTHY BRADLEY This gorgeous and warm December, I find myself torn by each dayâs beauty. Will this mild-mannered December provide a moment of grace for the ranchers, will it be a devastating blow to ski areas, will the bears come wandering down from the mountains looking for spring, will the warm sun provide more bait for out-of-staters to migrate here for longer portions of their annual calendar? This past summer, every one of us â everyone who set out on a familiar trail, or walked to an old fishing hole, or put the canoe on a stretch of a quiet river, or stepped into a latrine at a familiar campground, or looked for a parking place at a lakeshore â knows that a new world has descended on Montana.