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Meeting Agenda

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Meeting Agenda (will be posted once available)

RSVP Link

Meeting Agenda

December 1, 2021 Meeting Agenda
CMR NWR CWG Mission, Purpose, and Goals
RSVP LINK (please RSVP by November 15, 2021)

To all past and present participants to the CMR Community Working Group,

How are you?

For many of us living and working in central and eastern Montana this year continues to challenge our response, individual and collective, to unprecedented dry conditions. How will we measure the short and long-term impact to our local businesses, communities, and our shared grassland landscape?

The CMR Community Working Group (CWG) – a project of the Missouri River Conservation Districts Council (MRCDC) – began in 2010 with a multi-stakeholder intention to address a number of ongoing complicated and complex natural resource issues inherent to the six counties surrounding the CMR Wildlife Refuge. Together we have created a forum committed to respectful and candid conversation on many diverse and controversial topics. Sometimes we find mutually supportive solutions, sometimes we don’t. Yet, we continue to make an honest effort to build understanding and trust capable of meeting the most intransigent unmet needs in our region.

COVID has dealt a blow to our efforts, along with personnel changes, to stay in steady conversation among one another. Certainly, the issues we face today are no less important than when we began. Our last virtual meeting was winter of 2020, when we learned of and discussed the Central Grasslands Roadmap. The CMR CWG Planning Committee is planning to hold a hybrid (in-person and virtual) meeting on December 1, 2021, from 10:00am-3:00pm in Winnett, Montana to share a meal with old and new players and to explore where we are today, and where we might go in the future.

Please RSVP by November 15 if you are planning to attend in-person, virtually, or not at all by clicking on this survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BXKYZFX (for meal count and/or to recieve the link to join the meeting virtually). We are looking forward to your thoughts and this opportunity to reconnect and brainstorm potential topics for 2022.

We have also attached the CMR CWG three-part goal for your review. Does this document still reflect our purpose and vision?

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you,
CMR CWG Planning Committee

Due to health and safety concerns for CMR Community Working Group speakers and participants, and guidance from Governor Bullock regarding gatherings of 10 or more people, the 5/21/2020 meeting will be postponed until September 17, 2020. The meeting will be held in Jordan as previously scheduled.

Due to the health and safety concerns for the CMR Community Working Group, speakers, and participants, the 3/19/20 CMR CWG meeting will be postponed until May 21, 2020. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to see you at the next meeting in May with a similar agenda. Please stay tuned to CMR CWG email notifications.

Questions? Call Casey at 406-454-0056, or mrcdc@macdnet.org

The CMR CWG meeting in Grass Range on January 16, 2020 hosted a great collection of presenters and panelists. Tahnee Szymanski, Assistant State Veterinarian, presented on feral swine and their disease and ecological impacts. Tahnee also presented on the impact of Brucellosis on livestock and how the disease can be transmitted and tested for. John Steuber, State Director of USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, presented on feral swine, human impacts, and the APHIS response plan. John has experience dealing with feral swine in Texas, where the problem is no longer manageable. The presentations are available as links and posted below.

The afternoon hosted a great panel about Designated Surveillance Areas with ranchers from the DSA in Southwest MT. Alan Redfield, Druska Kinkie, and Linda Owens spoke to the CMR CWG. You can listen to a recording of the panel discussion below. Linda Owens with the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group left predator mitigation tools for anyone interested in utilizing them. To grab a packet, please contact Casey at mrcdc@macdnet.org.

Recording of Designated Surveillance Areas panel discussion

Feral Swine Management Presentation by Tahnee Szymanski

Brucellosis Presentation by Tahnee Szymanski

Feral Swine Management Presentation by John Steuber

The CMR CWG October 2019 meeting focused on how to discover and share the stories that exist throughout the working lands of the CMR region. Guest speaker Suzi Taylor of the MSU Science Math Resource Center held a workshop providing tools and resources on the subject. Suzi has prepared a short resource document for the CMR CWG. Whether or not you were able to attend the workshop we highly recommend you look at these resources and try practicing the tools presented to better discover and share the powerful story that exists on your own working lands.