310 Permits, Education, Events, Noxious Weeds, Students, Water Quality, Watershed

Flood Awareness at EVMS!

Since the spring of 2008, the Lewis & Clark Conservation District has worked with area agencies to bring Flood Awareness to the East Valley Middle School.  What began with a parent visit during an open house in the fall of 2007, turned into a 9 year commitment to education. Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Lewis & Clark County Disaster and Emergency Services, and the Water Quality Protection District helped with planning efforts that first year and in subsequent years.  This year, we missed the East Helena Volunteer Fire Department, but had great presentations from DNRC's Michelle Phillips (floodplain), USGS'…
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Agriculture, Budget, Drip irrigation, Education, Resolutions, Water Quality, Watershed, , , ,

Sustainable Low Cost Crop – No More Over Grazing

Over Grazing Solutions for Small to Large Landowners By: Ashley Rivero           The discovery for us here at the Conservation District was during a stream permitting assessment on the Rocking Z Guest Ranch.  The Rocking Z Guest Ranch along Wolf Creek, run by a ranching family since 1974, offer an innovative range of opportunities to horseback riders, vacations goers, internships, as well as ranching and conservation education with the full Montana experience.  They offered to show us some of the environmentally friendly methods they have integrated into their daily operations and one that stuck out the most offers a potential solution to overgrazing…
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Budget, Communication, Education, Realtor, Website

Interesting Phone Calls

In the past few weeks, I've gotten 2 phone calls from individuals with questions about property taxes.  One was from a prospective property buyer, one was from a realtor who was asking questions on behalf of a client.  It seems as though every few years I get a number of these calls, so I thought I'd post about the issue. On property tax bills, especially for homes or other "real" property, there is a line item for Soil and Water Conservation District or other similar description.  This amount varies by property value--as do most tax line items--and is really not…
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Education, Events, Students, Training, Uncategorized, , ,

Helena High Envirothon State Champs Need Your Help

Congratulations Helena High - Envirothon State Champions 2016!           It's not over yet for Helena High, they have the opportunity to attend the North American Envirothon competition in Ontario in July but they need your help to get there.The team needs your help raising money to help with their travel costs. The Lewis & Clark Conservation District budgets funds annually to support the teams and have been doing so since 2009. However, we can't cover the entire cost so they need you to donate if you can. Please donate through the Conservation District which allows for tax…
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Agriculture, Education

Women in Agriculture-An Oral History

There is a page on the Department of Natural Resources (State of Montana) web page that has a series of stories,  "From the Ground Up, Montana Women and Agriculture".  This is amazing group of stories told by women about their lives and ties to Montana agriculture.  If you get an opportunity, please have a listen and enjoy the stories.  Their stories can be found here. If you live in Lewis & Clark County and would like to tell your story, please contact the Conservation District and we can figure out a way to make that happen for you!  I would love…
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Drip irrigation, Earth Day, Education, Recycling

Happy Earth Day!

On this Earth Day, I would encourage any and all of you to take a step back and consider your habits and practices and think about how you could make changes to improve our climate and living situation. Here in Montana, our wide open spaces allow us to live with less litter, less people etc. We don't necessarily see the impact of our daily activities as much as if we lived someplace with more people.   However, even here there are things we can do. Recycling--especially electronics such as computers and cell phones--will keep more toxic items out of our…
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Education, Employees, Meetings, Planning

The Road Less Traveled…

Yesterday, March 30, I attended the Area 6 Administrator's meeting.  We haven't had a meeting in a while--the last agenda I have was 10 years ago!  Anyway, we try to do these now and then to check in with each other and get a feel for the types of projects and issues that other district in our area are dealing with.  It was a good meeting, since it had been so long, there were new faces, and lots of discussion about what's been going on in our districts and other issues from across the state. While I forgot to take…
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Education, Events, Noxious Weeds, Training

Private Applicator Workshop

There will be a workshop for people to obtain credits toward their private applicator license for spraying restricted chemicals to fight invasive species.  This workshop is sponsored by the Lewis & Clark County Extension Office and will take place at the county Fairgrounds on May 10.  For information, call 447-8346 or download the registration/agenda.
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Education, NRCS, Plant materials, Pollinator

Encouraging Pollinators

One of the best things that we as land managers--big and small acreages!--can do to increase the health of our pollinators such as honey bees, is to plant species that they utilize and survive on.  The Natural Resource Conservation Service is introducing the Honey Bee Pollinator Initiative to help promote practices that are pollinator friendly.  The attached Fact Sheet lists species that are appropriate.  If you are interested in incorporating these practices into your land management, please contact the NRCS Field Office in your area.  The NRCS Field Office for Lewis & Clark County is in Helena at 790 Colleen Street,…
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Education, Events, Meetings, NRCS, Resolutions

Area Meeting time

Area 6 of the Montana Association of Conservation Districts had their annual Area meeting yesterday in White Sulphur Springs.  It was a beautiful day, a bit breezy, but not bad.   Districts came together to discuss the business of their area:  proposed by-laws changes for MACD, reports from the various Government organizations including Natural Resource Conservation Service, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Department of Environmental Quality, Fish Wildlife and Parks, Montana Salinity Control Association and others.  The Galt Ranch provided beef for the mid-day meal, "Wagyu beef". There were only 2 resolutions, Floodplain Resolution and the other on Priority Resource Concerns…
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