he moved to missoula, montana in 1959 where he became publisher of the missoulian. this is the town in the book: "a river runs through it". while in missoula, schermer was deeply involved in community and state affairs. the newspaper played a leading role in the passage of air and water pollution regulations for the state of montana (one of the first in the nation), and the creation of the great bear wilderness area, the scapegoat wilderness area, which bordered the bob marshall wilderness area, bringing the total of the three to . the "missoulian" was instrumental in restoring the clark fork (river) of the columbia river from a polluted, sterile river to a blue ribbon trout stream today. the paper also played a key role in the creation of a constitutional convention that produced a new state constitution.