Heather Brower- Scobey, MT

Transcription

1 Pheasants Forever The Habitat Organization Pheasants Forever, NRCS, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist Partnership Quarterly Progress report 2018 Q1 Heather Brower- Scobey, MT Participated in 30 different NRCS webinars to better understand different conservation practices and develop conservation plans. Made 10 landowner contacts in Daniels County. Provided technical assistance reviewing 4 completed EQIP projects. Assisted with ranking questions for 5 EQIP applications. Assist with 2 soils mapping for tree plantings and 2 seed mixes for CRP. 15 acres of trees to be planted once it is warm enough. Familiarized myself with different NRCS programs and how they could be best used to improve habitat for wildlife Toured Daniels County with Andy Johnsrud and Kelly Burke to familiarize myself with the county. Participated in several trainings, workshops and conferences including: o Soil Health Workshop o Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop Recorded and typed notes for the workshop o Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society s Annual meeting Landowner Partnership workshop Moderated a session o District Conservation monthly meeting, including Montana Aquatic Resources Services (MARS) o Daniels County Extension Office Flash Drought review from 2017 o NRCS Drought Workshop o Montana Bird Conservation partnership meeting o PF orientation with Montana Partners (MTFWP, NRCS, FSA) o PF headquarters Visit and orientation o Montana natural Heritage Program Database training o Upland Game Bird Enhancement Program Advisory Council Meeting o NRCS Soil Teleconferences Read 10 conservation papers on how to manage grazing, cropping and upland game birds in a grassland/sagebrush steep ecosystem. Looked into all the possible wildlife easement programs that would be available in the area and put together a list for quick reference for a landowner who was interested. Researching what it would take to use precision agriculture to find acres that would be more cost effective to plant to permanent wildlife habitat or to change the use on that land. o Teleconference with PF Ryan Heiniger and NRCS Andy Johnsrud

2 Tested 3 different landowners soils for salinity and recharge, incase CRP acres open up again for salinity. Tour property with MTFWP Ken Plourde Habitat Specialist for conservation programs o Met with 1 landowner with Ken Plourde to go over conservation programs that would be available for their property. Erin Fairbank -- Conrad MT Developed diverse pollinator seed mixes for 7 Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) contracts for acres with Pondera County NRCS o acres Pollinator habitat o 4 acres Monarch habitat o 14.4 acres Field Borders o 8.6 acres Filter Strips Developed 1 Honey Bee Pollinator Initiative (HBPI) contract for 24.2 acres with Pondera County NRCS Assisted in EQIP and HBPI rankings Completed field tour with Jake Doggett (MTFWP) to evaluate current and potential future habitat projects Completed draft Management Plan budget for Pheasants Forever Lion s Park (Teton River) property Assisted MTFWP with evaluating potential combination of state and federal habitat enhancement programs for landowners 8 Landowner contacts in Teton, Pondera and Cascade Counties Completed NRI Grazing Land Field Study permission letters for Teton County NRCS Attended several trainings, workshops, and conferences including: o NRCS Conservation Webinars o SWCDM/NRCS Soil Health Workshop o Rocky Mountain Front Land Managers Forum o MT Bird Conservation Partnership meeting o Lewis & Clark Conservation District Winter Grazing Seminar o Conservation Programs Workshop o The Wildlife Society Annual Conference o Pollinator Working Group conference call o Teton Conservation District meetings o Pondera Conservation District meetings o PF orientation with MT Partners (MTFWP, NRCS, FSA) o PF Headquarters visit and orientation o MT Natural Heritage Program database training o NRCS staff meetings o Upland Game Bird Habitat Enhancement Program Advisory Council meeting

3 Hunter VanDonsel- Chinook, MT Made 60 landowner contacts in Blaine and Hill Counties. Lead planner on three EQIP applications in Blaine County that are preapproved for funding. o 10,100 acres Prescribed grazing o acres Upland Wildlife Habitat Management and Forage and Biomass Planting o Over $480,000 of EQIP funding between three contracts Worked with Ken Plourde, MT FWP Upland Game Bird Specialist, to send out 67 mailings to landowners with expiring CRP located within MT FWP block management areas. o Resulted in projects with MT FWP in Phillips County. o Resulted in a producer meeting in Daniels County with MT FWP and PF biologists. o One producer meeting scheduled because of BMA CRP initiative in Blaine County. Met with two producers in Blaine County to start planning Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) applications. Met with three producers in Blaine and Hill Counties to start planning pollinator and food plot plantings for spring of Assisted NRCS with planning, technical assistance, ranking and producer meetings for three Wildlife EQIP projects and one Organic EQIP project. o Two preapproved Wildfire EQIP totaling in 6,712 acres of grazing deferment. Started an outreach effort in Blaine County to contact landowners in CRP. o Started creating outreach postcard for landowners whose CRP is expiring in 2018 and o Contacted five landowner s with CRP that expired in 2017 to talk about options for keeping CRP in perennial cover. Kept NRCS office running and projects moving forward during time that the Blaine County DC was on detail. (1/5/2018-5/1/2018) Attended various trainings and meetings across Montana o NRCS Grazing Seminar in Havre, MT o Great Falls Soil Health Workshop o New Biologist Orientation in Bozeman, MT o Transboundary Grassland Workshop in Glasgow, MT o Harlem Seed Show in Harlem, MT o Montana Bird Conservation Partnership meeting in Great Falls, MT o Natural Heritage Program Database Training o UGBEP Citizen Advisory Council Meeting in Helena, MT o Ranchers Stewardship Alliance monthly meetings in Malta, MT Aaron Clausen Bozeman, MT Continued working on development of PF capacity in Montana: o Made 44 development contacts to pursue new partnership capacity, conservation projects, programs, and funding opportunities. Groups include: Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Xerces Society, Gallatin Conservation District, Madison Conservation District, Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Montana, Montana State University Extension, Montana Honey Bee Company, US Forest Service, Montana Native Plant Society, World

4 Wildlife Fund, American Bird Conservancy, Montana Audubon, Montana Aquatic Resources Services, Montana DNRC, Farm Service Agency, MT FWP, and USDA NRCS. o Facilitated a 2-day orientation for new PF staff and partner agencies o Provided assistance and advice to other PF employees in Montana o Continued to assist in development of a management plan for PF s Teton River property Made 149 outreach contacts that included various landowners, stakeholders, agency and NGO staff through presentations at the following events: o Soil Health Workshop Three Forks o Soil Health Workshop Billings o Wildlife Society Meeting Butte o Conservation Tree and Shrub Establishment Workshop Ennis o Montana Pollinator Workshop - Bozeman Made 33 landowner contacts. Provided 2 landowners with technical assistance to establish 45 acres of wildlife habitat: o 10 acres in Ravalli county o 35 acres in Gallatin county Provided assistance to new PF Montana employees, and developed an orientation for them to be hosted in Bozeman early next year Continued working towards enhancing pollinator habitat conservation with various groups in Montana: o Continued coordinating the Montana Pollinator Habitat Working Group: facilitated the 2 nd conference of the group, began organizing a field tour for the group in June. o Organized, facilitated, and presented at the first Montana Pollinator Workshop. Partners engaged include: the Montana Honey Bee Company, Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Montana, Montana State University, World Wildlife Fund, Xerces Society, Montana Department of Agriculture, and NRCS. o Continued refining data for the CRP Pollinator Monitoring Project, in advance of the 2018 monitoring season. o Developed a milkweed seeding trial, to be implemented in Ravalli county in April. o Assisted NRCS state biologist and other technical staff with development of new ideas for pollinator habitat conservation. o Communicated with PF Western Region and NRCS Bozeman Area Staff about pertinent pollinator conservation issues through updates and conservation tips. Assisted the NRCS with certain aspects of program delivery and outreach: o Assisted Bozeman Area staff with wildlife habitat evaluations, stream assessments, contract reviews, and CRP technical inquiries. o Participated in several pollinator habitat conservation meetings. o Worked with NRCS to better try and identify the aspects of soil health principles that best align with wildlife habitat conservation in an attempt to create some outreach curriculum. Assisted FWP, and other groups, with wildlife conservation programs and public land access:

5 o Assisted PF staff with development of program idea to do outreach to landowners jointly enrolled in FWP Block Management Program and the Conservation Reserve Program. Continued to correspond with FWP staff in Region 5 to discuss this idea and potential logistics for implementing it there. Developed a mailing for use in direct outreach efforts to landowners. In addition to those already indicated, attended the following meetings, trainings, and events: o NEPA environmental compliance training o Lichen identification workshop o MT Bird Conservation Partnership meeting o MT Plant Conservation Conference o MT Natural Heritage Program training o Upland Game Bird Enhancement Program citizen advisory council meeting Pheasants Forever 2018 Q4 Quantitative Report Landowner Contacts Per County Blaine 58 Cascade 4 Daniels 5 Fergus 1 Gallatin 5 Hill 6 Lewis and Clark 2 Madison 4 Musselshell 1 Park 2 Pondera 3 Ravalli 10 Teton 3 Yellowstone 3 Total 107 Pondera, 3 Park, 2 Musselshell, 1 Madison, 4 Lewis and Clark, 2 Gallatin, 5 Landowner Contacts Per County Fergus, 1 Teton, 3 Yellowstone, 3 Hill, 6 Daniels, 5 Ravalli, 10 Cascade, 4 Blaine, 58

6 Projects Per County Blaine 5 Daniels 2 Gallatin 1 Pondera 8 Ravalli 1 Total 17 Projects Per County Ravalli, 1 Blaine, 5 Pondera, 8 Daniels, 2 Gallatin, 1 Acres Per County Blaine 17,002 Daniels 15 Gallatin 35 Pondera 171 Ravalli 10 Total 17,233 Acres Per County Gallatin, 35 Pondera, 171 Daniels, 15 Ravalli, 10 Blaine, Program Traffic (all data) Continuous CRP 7 CSP 17 CTA - Nonprogram 25 CTA - USDA 5 EQIP 54 PF/QF Chapter 2 State Wildlife Agency 4 Total 114 EQIP, 54 PF/QF Chapter, 2 Program Traffic State Wildlife Agency, 4 Continuous CRP, 7 CSP, 17 CTA - Nonprogram, 25 CTA - USDA, 5

7 Acres by Project type CSP 147 CTA Non-program 35 CTA - USDA 15 EQIP 17,036 Total 17,233 Acres by Project Type CTA - Nonprogram, 35 CTA - USDA, 15 CSP, 147 EQIP, 17036