LCCD meeting to identify local landowner concerns for future EQIP funding draws no local landowners

A May 3 meeting organized by the Lewis and Clark Conservation District to discuss natural resource planning with landowners in the Lincoln area failed to draw any local landowners.

The Lewis & Clark County Natural Resource Planning Community Meeting at the Lincoln Community Hall sought to identify natural resource concerns private landowners - particularly those working in agriculture - see as priorities, in light of the new model for allocating Environmental Quality Incentives Program funding the Natural Resources Conservation Service is adopting.

"Our plan was to do public meetings to figure out the resource concerns, the problems we have on the landscape," said District Conservationist John George.

The LCCD hoped to draw enough landowners to form a group that could identify priority problems on private land in the Lincoln area and outline the planning needs to address them. The top identified concerns form the basis for a long-range plan, which in turn forms the Targeted Implementation Plans that future EQIP funding will be tied to.

"What we came here today to do was kind of answer three questions with the public; the key questions we have to answer with this long-range plan," George said. "What natural resource issues do people see on the landscape that are a problem? What tools do folks use to get those outcomes - cross fencing for overgrazed areas, thinning for overstocked forest, whatever tools it might be. And what would folks like to see for outcomes from those treatments...improved forest conditions, cleaner water...things like that."

The Targeted Implementation Plans, or TIPs, are part of the "focused conservation" effort that aims to use federal conservation dollars as effectively as possible by concentrating on the top resource issues identified for an area by landowners. A TIP treats a specific natural resource concern, and only that concern, in a geographical area. The idea is that, rather than working on different, individual conservation projects, landowners work together on a specific issue to achieve a targeted result on a larger scale.

If a project application for EQIP funding doesn't fit within a TIP or another specialized funding pool, it won't be considered until an appropriate TIP goes into effect. TIPs aren't permanent, however, and are expected to last about two to three years.

With no one else on hand at the meeting, George scrapped the collaborative group process they intended to use to identify priorities and develop plans and instead turned to the only two people who showed up - Murray Strong, a scientist with Pioneer Technical, and yours truly, the BVD editor - to gather some insight for the Lincoln area.

Although neither of us are agricultural landowners in the area, we attempted to identify three top concerns we thought are important for the area, including forest management for excessive fuels, water quality and weed control. That gave George something to take away from the meeting, but it was clear that input from local landowners with a deeper understanding of the conservation issues they face would have been considerably more productive.

"We can't do contacts with people who don't want to do the work we have the money for. If we get a TIP done for something nobody wants, then what's the point?" LCCD Administrator Chris Evans said.

George admitted he and the LCCD crew were surprised by the lack of attendance, which had been advertised through direct mailings, on social media and in press releases.

"So that folks know, there is still going to be an opportunity; we're still going to have more meetings," George said.

The next meeting is slated for Thursday, May 9 from 6-8 p.m. at the Augusta Youth Center in Augusta. A third meeting is scheduled a week later, on May 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the East Valley Fire Hall. The final meeting is set for May 23 at the Wolf Creek School, from 6-8 p.m.

Landowners and community members who can't make any of those meetings but still have an interest in providing feedback can do so through a survey available on line at http://lccd.mt.nacdnet.org/.../.../Combined-survey-and-flyer.pdf. The LCCD can also be contacted by phoe at 406-449-5000, extension 3.

"They can let us know what they're thinking; we'll talk them through it," Geroge said. "But it's really easy: what's the problem? How would you like to see it fixed? What would you like to see as an outcome?"

He stressed the need for landowners to get their information to him if they want to get the work done on the landscape they feel is most important.

Once the LCCD consolidates the information from the meetings, they'll convene local working groups to discuss the problems they've heard about, the tools identified to address them and the outcomes they're after.

"We'll present that to the local work groups and say 'this is what we've heard, this is how we'll write this out.'" George said. The local work groups can then make additions or edits before the long-range plan is developed.