2025 Outstanding District Professional & District Board Member Awards
NCDEA (National Conservation District Employees) created this award in 1992. Its mission is to strengthen and promote the conservation district programs by providing assistance, information, and representation and by supporting the professionalism of conservation district employees. For more information, review the PDF linked here or contact tami.moore@sd.nacdnet.net. It is worth noting that state leaders need to submit nominations to Tami Moore by October 15th, so all submissions from local CD employees & board members to those state leaders should be done well before that point.
Breakout Session Topics
The Montana Association of Conservation Districts invites conservation district staff, supervisors, partners, and other stakeholders to help shape the 2025 Convention, taking place November 18–20 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Billings, MT. Submit your ideas and proposals for session topics, guest speakers, panel discussions, or interactive training relevant to conservation districts in Montana. Whether it’s practical skill-building, policy or legislative insights, emerging conservation technologies, community outreach and education, or district governance – your topic could fill a breakout room! Click here for access to the submission form.
Montana Invasive Species Funding Survey
If you or your organization conducts invasive species work in Montana, please take a moment to complete this short survey. Responses will help provide information about changes in federal funding that impact local, county, state, tribal, federal, and private sectors that work on any type of invasive species – aquatic or terrestrial – plants or animals. To help define the location(s) of your work area, use the MACD area map provided in the survey. Please respond by August 30, 2025.
Producers and Landowners Can Now Enroll in USDA’s Grassland Conservation Reserve Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that agricultural producers and private landowners can now enroll in the Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (Grassland CRP). The sign-up runs from today, July 14, to Aug. 8, 2025. Grassland CRP, offered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), is a voluntary working lands conservation program that enables participants to conserve grasslands while also continuing most grazing and haying practices.
Public Comment Now Open on DNRC’s Post-Session Water Rules until August 8th
The DNRC has developed a rules package for implementation of several bills passed during the 2025 legislative session: SB 178, SB 190, HB 432, HB 441, and HB 681. These rules were published with the Secretary of State on July 11. A public hearing on the rules is scheduled for July 31, and the final day for public comment on the rules package is August 8. Click here for more information.
Economic Impacts of Invasive Woody Species Survey
The Montana Woody Invasives Working Groups needs your help quantifying the economic cost of managing common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), and salt cedar (Tamarix chinensis, T. ramosissima, & hybrids thereof). This cost information will be used to make informed decisions about the appropriate level of investment to manage for these focal woody invasive species.
This questionnaire has been sent to all County Weed District coordinators in Montana. As a manager of land resources or commercial operations, you have been identified as a potential source of information. The survey includes questions pertaining to the presence of these woody invasive species on the lands you manage, their potential to do harm, and the amount of money you have spent in their control.
The survey is confidential. Your participation is voluntary; if you come to any question you prefer not to answer, please skip it and go on to the next. The questionnaire should take you 15 minutes to complete once you have gathered together the requested cost data.
To begin the survey, click here.
FWP seeking applicants for northeast Montana Citizens Advisory Council
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking applicants to fill volunteer positions on the Region 6 Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) in northeast Montana. Specifically, FWP is looking for a new member from the western side of the Region (Blaine or Hill County), but any applications are welcome and could be used in future recruitment efforts.
The CAC is a general advisory council that provides input, guidance, and feedback to FWP on a variety of issues—from wildlife and fisheries management, to access, state parks, outdoor recreation, and law enforcement. CACs do not possess decision-making authority, but rather serve in an advisory capacity to FWP and are comprised of diverse, engaged citizens who help FWP by serving two central functions:
- Providing information, ideas, and identification of emerging trends in a welcoming forum of diverse interests.
- Providing a means to better inform CAC members, who in turn are ambassadors to their communities.
Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz
During September 2025, the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is hosting its 7th annual Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz.
Hosting a Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz event allows your community to explore, engage in environmental issues, and see how many pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants they can find — while providing you information to help manage spaces with biodiversity in mind.
Conservation districts are invited to sign up to host a BioBlitz this September! You will receive all the materials you need for a successful event — now including social media and flyers in both English and Spanish. By hosting an event, you are entered into winning one of three $1,000 prizes or one of three gardening prize packs from Scotts Miracle-Gro to help you further your efforts with native habitat and pollinator protection strategies.
Montana Agrotourism Conference Seeking Speakers, workshop leaders, and Roundtable Discussion Hosts
The Montana Department of Agricultural (MDA) is excited to invite proposals to from potential speakers for the upcoming Agrotourism Conference set to take place on November 21, 2025 at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT.
We are looking for speakers to lead sessions in the following areas (other relevant topics are encouraged):
- Insurance Liability in Agrotourism
- Marketing and Promoting Agrotourism Ventures
- Business and Succession Planning for Agrotourism
- Sustainability Practices in Agrotourism
- Innovation and Technology in Agrotourism
- Visitor Experience: Designing Memorable Tours and Events
- Building Partnership and Community Collaboration
- Emerging Trends in Agrotourism
For more information email deborah.queen@mt.gov by 05:00PM on June 27, 2025.
NACD Conservation District Survey
This conservation district survey was developed to help us understand the ongoing impacts of executive actions. Your responses are anonymous, unless you would like to be contacted by a NACD staff member.
NACD invites conservation districts to respond to a survey to help us better understand how many conservation districts are collocated with NRCS partners, whether they are provided office space under a USDA lease, and the extent to which they may be impacted by potential office relocations or closures.
