CD supervisors and employees recognized

Steve Wanderaas and Dusty Olson were recognized as supervisor and administrator of the year by the Montana Association of Conservation Districts Employee Organization. 

Steve was recognized for countless hours and miles supporting conservation districts' local leadership in the protection of Montana’s waterways from aquatic species as well as the protection of lands and plants from other invasives. 

Dusty was recognized for taking on new and novel projects. For example, the Garfield County Conservation District and Dusty piloted the idea of conservation districts managing inspection stations after hearing speakers from other states that do so. Her energy and eagerness to prove this duty is best accomplished by locals has led to other stations operating under the very capable hands of the McCone, Powder River, and Big Horn CDs. Dusty also manages the Wibaux CD station with the help of locals there.

Other supervisors recognized were:

• Roy Neal, Big Horn CD for his local leadership;
• Judi Knapp, Treasure CD, for her active involvement both locally and statewide and her work with FFA and 4H;
• Laura Kiehl, Petroleum CD, for her active, passionate, and tireless participation in serving the community she loves.

Other employees recognized were:

• Tenlee Atchison, Cascade CD, for her leadership in coordinating education for CD employees and for her efforts in bringing health benefit options to conservation district supervisors and employees;
• Chris Evans, Lewis and Clark CD, for her efforts to coordinate agencies and landowners in addressing natural resource issues following the floods of 2018 and 2019;
• Lorna Krause, Chouteau County CD, for her dedicated and reliable service to local producers in her community;
• Shonny Nordlund for her dedication and exemplary work for Montana’s high school students through the huge task of hosting the Montana Envirothon.

These men and women represent what all of you do on a daily basis – they make a difference in their communities and make the state a better place while they are at it. Our hats are off to you!

A draft report of the area meeting facilitated session has been compiled and is available upon request. In its raw form it documents why supervisors and employees do what they do, what they want to do in the future, and what they need to accomplish their goals. While revealing no surprises, the report is broken into categories that will provide a blueprint for future planning and allow all of us to focus communication, education, and funding on subjects important to conservation districts' future. The year 2020 will bring opportunities for involvement and participation in efforts that will help shape programs that support your important local common sense conservation work. We believe local leadership and involvement is the most effective way to meet conservation needs. When the time comes, consider participating in committee work that will focus on issues important to you or to lending your thoughts.

A new CD employee wage survey is attached for your information. If you have not had the chance to respond to it, it is not too late. You can see that the information is somewhat skewed because the survey number represents less than half of CD employees. Of note, area 1 continues to have the lowest employee longevity rate, with area 6 having the highest. The lowest average salary is $15.73/hour, with the highest being $22.51/hour. CDs offering group benefits has slightly increased to 64 percent of the employees represented by the survey, as opposed to 62 percent last time the survey was completed in 2016.

Wage survey can be found here

The Rosebud Conservation District is in the process of securing a $50,000 DNRC planning grant that will eventually lead to extinguishing coal seam fires in southeastern Montana. As many as 1,000 coal seams may be burning in an area that involves five conservation districts, with more yet to be discovered. These fires are difficult and expensive for landowners to put out on their own and lead to more fires and conservation concerns. The Rosebud Conservation District will establish a work group to develop a strategic plan, map the fires, interview landowners and others, and develop priorities for extinguishing the fires. This is yet another example of local conservation districts stepping up and taking leadership in complicated conservation issues. We appreciate their leadership and partnership in this huge undertaking.  Contact Rosebud Conservation District for more information.

Photo: Firefighters use drip torches to contain a grass fire ignited by a burning coal seam on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Jon Kohn/Bureau of Indian Affairs

The 310 committee will meet December 17 in Helena to finalize the updated joint application. Also on the agenda is an open discussion of permitting issues CDs are facing. If you are interested in attending, or listening in, contact Jason Garber at 444-4340.

December 31 marks the end of conservation districts’ coalbed methane reimbursement program. Due to the lack of funds, conservation districts in eastern Montana will stop accepting damage claims from producers whose lands and water resources could be attributed to coalbed methane development. Since the program was funded in 2001, a handful of claims were filed in Powder River Conservation District. The law and program will remain on the books and may be revived if funding and need arise in the future. Conservation districts are to be commended for their hard work and energy that went into the development and management of this program.

Technical assistance grants will be announced soon by NACD, so now is a good idea to think about what you need. These funds will come with a 20 percent match requirement, which can be cash or in-kind. Your NRCS area conservationists are consulting with the local DCs to see where there is the most need. The key is being ready; if you think you need extra technical help, talk to your DC about support for applying and let Chuck at MACD know, too. About $9 million is available nationwide and last year there was $19 million in requests. Montana fared pretty well. If you are worried about the match, talk to us – maybe we can help.

Don’t forget:

• 223, district development & mini-education deadline is January 15, 2020
• Applications will be reviewed at the RCAC Meeting on February 12, 2020 in Billings 
• Pollinator grants available
• Urban conservation grants available from NACD
• A seminar regarding property owners and utilities – What should be included when negotiating leases with companies – See news release attached and mark your calendars.
• Open period for supervisor elections – January 9 through March 9. Applies to all supervisors whose terms are up December 2020 wishing to serve another four-year term and for those supervisors appointed to fill a vacant position. EDITOR NOTE: Previously sent news release templates indicated terms incorrectly as three-year terms. It should be for four-year terms. Corrected documents can be found here.

Election Question 

"We had a supervisor resign in April and finally found someone willing to take his place. The supervisor who resigned term expires December 31, 2022."

QUESTION: Does the person we appoint serve out the remaining term - until December 31, 2022 - or - with a general election coming next fall, does the new person need to be on the ballot and then serve until December 31, 2022? I have two other supervisors whose terms are up December 31, 2020, so they will need to run again in 2020.

ANSWER: Ok, this may seem a little weird, but it depends on when you appoint the person. If you appoint someone before the end of the open Oath of Candidacy period (January 9 through March 9, 2020), then that person, if they wish to continue to serve, would fill out the Oath of Candidacy and run for a two year term (starting January 1, 2021 and ending December 31, 2022). If you appoint someone after March 9, they wouldn't be able to fill out the Oath of Candidacy, so they would be appointed by the board to serve until the end of the term - December 31, 2022. No wonder this stuff gets goofed up - it is confusing.

Open Meeting Question 

QUESTION: We are getting ready to have our office Christmas party. This event is not part of our normal board meeting-different time, date, venue etc. It has been brought to my attention that we might need to advertise this event as all the supervisors will be together, it could be misconstrued as an official quorum. Please advise & thank you!

ANSWER: A "meeting" requiring public notice etc. only occurs if the board will be discussing or acting on official issues of the conservation district. See MCA 2-3-202. If you are just having a social gathering and won't be conducting official business, it isn't a meeting. I would caution the board members to not talk about any pending issues involving the CD at the party, to avoid anyone crying foul at a later time. You don't want to give the appearance that any official matters were discussed without the public being informed.

MT FWP AIS Summit 2019

by Lance Clark, CD Specialist

Approximately, 140 natural resource partners attended and participated in the 2019 Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Summit at Carroll College in Helena on December 4 – 5, 2019.

The first annual two-day Summit brought together statewide leaders, conservation partners from local, state and federal government agencies, local conservation districts, land owners and land managers.

The Summit regional address by Stephen Phillips, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, provided a great overview of what other states in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain region are doing to protect our waters.  For more information on the commission, Montana’s participation and successful collaborations, log on to www.westernais.org.

The AIS Summit presentations included watercraft inspection stations, AIS program history, early detection monitoring activities, public outreach & education, the budgetary panel (making funding possible for the AIS work), legislative action to make AIS protections/ inspections possible (both 2019 and upcoming 2021), review of the laws and law enforcement, watercraft inspections—challenges and successes, and local/state/ federal monitoring on Montana’s 300 + water bodies.

Mark Bostrom, MT DNRC CARDD Administrator & AIS Summit budgetary panel participant, said, “...the AIS grants are a small part of the overall AIS program for the state but have a huge impact in promoting state and local partnerships with conservation districts, collaborative stakeholders, and community groups that can be effective implementing programs on the ground."

In 2019, there were five Eastern Montana AIS inspection stations that were part of the statewide effort with AIS watercraft inspection stations. Garfield County CD (Flowing Wells), McCone CD (Nashua), Powder River County CD (Broadus), Wibaux station supervised by Garfield County CD (Wibaux) and Big Horn CD (St Xavier).  A big thank you to CD Administrators Dusty Olson, Diane Black, Liz Riter, Maria Hopkins and their inspection station employees that fulfilled the 2019 watercraft inspection season.

For more information on Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, click on the following links:

Clean, Drain and Dry:  http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/species/ais/prevention.html

Watercraft Inspection:  http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/species/ais/watercraftInspection.html

Outreach and Education:  http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/species/ais/outreachEducation.html

AIS Resources:  http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/species/ais/resources.html

Stay tuned for MT FWP 2019 AIS Summit recap. In the interim, feel free to contact Liz Lodman, FWP Public Information Officer at (406) 444-9940 or llodman@mt.gov

Also, Conservation Districts administrators, supervisors and public can access MT DNRC information from the following website and/or contact:

Stephanie Criswell, MISC (Montana Invasive Species Council) Coordinator at 406.444.0547 and/or scriswell@mt.gov

For more information, log on to http://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/cardd/montana-invasive-species-program/misc

Photo: Panelists left to right: Lena Havron, FWP Budget Operations Manager; Mark Bostrom, DNRC CARDD Administrator; Lori Curtis, Whitefish Lake Institute Science & Education Director/Chair, Upper Columbia Conservation Commission; Tom Woolf, FWP AIS Bureau Chief

Fall 2019 CD Directory is now online

The new directory is currently at the printers and will be mailed to districts after the first of the year. In the meantime, an abbreviated online version is available. Please Note: The online version does not list your supervisors' physical / email addresses or personal phone numbers. Cover Photo: Heidi Fleury, Lake County CD Administrator