Lewis & Clark Conservation
District
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Meetings Lewis & Clark Conservation District regular meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of every month unless noticed otherwise. In January, the Board usually has a special meeting prior to the regular meeting for budget and planning purposes. For information on an upcoming meeting or to be placed on the meeting notice mailing list, contact the district directly. ***For the current meeting notice, please click here.*** Annual Plan of Operation Every year the Board of Supervisors reviews the Annual Plan of Operation and makes changes as they see fit for the next calendar year. Encompassing the District's Land, People, Water and Plant resources, the document is a picture of where the Supervisors would like to focus their efforts, time and funds for the year. Click here for the link. Watersheds The Conservation District is active in several arenas at present. We participate in several watershed groups including:
Upper Ten Mile Lower Ten Mile Prickly Pear Creek
Fire Recovery Other activities include an on-going effort on the fire recovery of both the Cave Gulch Fires of 2000 and the Bucksnort Weed Management Area which also burned in 2000. This large Weed Management area encompasses the Spokane Hills east of Helena, into Broadwater County, with landowners ranging from 2 acres to thousands of acres, private, state and federal. Noxious Weeds The Conservation District works in multiple arenas pertaining to noxious weed control. We have helped to fund the Augusta High School Insectary for six years. The school has a greenhouse and outdoor site where they are raising the insects which devour knapweed and leafy spurge. In addition to that project, the District has helped sponsor a Dearborn River Watershed Spray Day to assist private landowners in the area with the huge task of working on their weeds. As a spin-off of this project, the District recently was given responsibility of a Contribution Agreement with NRCS, USFWS and others to work on weeds in the Dearborn Watershed under the EQIP program. The District also contributes to the annual Weed Whacker Rodeo in the Sun River Canyon. They have a weed pull and contests to see who pulls the most weeds and the biggest weeds. Most recently, in January of 2006, the Board of Supervisors instituted a Weed Reward project for Purple loosestrife, Yellow starthistle and Orange Hawkweed. Any of these weeds that are found inside the Lewis & Clark Conservation District are eligible for a $50 reward upon verification by the Lewis & Clark County Weed District. Education We also work with education projects in schools, hosting grants for education and project oriented programs. In addition we work with state and federal legislators on issues that are important to our landowners. State Mandated Programs The Natural Streambed and Land Preservation Act The 1975 State Law requires Conservation Districts to review and oversee projects in and around the perennial streams in each of their areas. In Lewis & Clark Conservation District, the Board has determined that they will follow the United States Geological Survey Topographic maps as an initial step for determining what is a perennial stream. For the application form, click here. We revised our rules for implementation of the 310 law in 2006. For more information please give us a call or email the district. The Lewis & Clark Conservation District also administers the Sediment & Erosion Control Ordinance pertaining to erosion control on urban and forestry projects. Grants The Conservation District sponsors a multitude of grants, ranging from $500 education grants from DNRC for local educators, to multi-thousands of dollar grants for watershed projects, stream restoration, National Fire Plan contracts and other types of projects. Most of the grants are available through the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation but require a Conservation District Sponsor. |
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