In February of 1970, nationally known broadcaster Chet Huntley unveiled plans for the construction of a major recreational development in Montana to be known as Big Sky. Montana State University (MSU) used this opportunity to initiate a large-scale interdisciplinary study of the environmental impacts of large land developments, which later became known as the "Gallatin Canyon study."  Although that study did not have any bearing on the primary decision of whether to build the resort, the involvement of scientists who studied the subject of a contentious public debate was emblematic of the increasing role science was coming to play in public policy making in the 1970s, that of providing information to the policy makers.