2026 Annual Convention Agenda

Monday, Nov. 30 | Pre-Convention Workshop with Ray Ledgerwood

10 am | Registration opens 

10:30 - 11:30 am | New Supervisor Training - Ray Ledgerwood

☕ 11:30 am | Snacks & beverages available  

12:00 pm - 2 pm | Locally Led Conservation Work Session - Ray Ledgerwood

☕ 2 pm - 2:30 pm | Break- Snacks & beverages available  

2 pm - 5 pm | Partner meeting: Missouri River Conservation District Council

2:30 pm - 5 pm | Locally Led Conservation Work Session (cont.) - Ray Ledgerwood

Evening Events 

🌱 TBD | Local tour (potential; details pending)

Tuesday, Dec. 1 

8:30 am | Registration opens 

9:30 - 12:30 am | MACD Board Meeting 

☕ 10 am | Snacks & beverages available

10:00 am - 11:00 am | Finding funding for your new project (follow up to Ray Ledgerwood Workshop) - Dr. Ericka Harney

11:00 am - 3 pm | Office hours: Dr. Ericka Harney

12:00 pm - 3 pm | Partner meeting: Montana Conservation District Employee Organization

1 pm - 2 pm |  Dawson County CD Land Ordinance Project- Todd Tibbetts, Dawson Co. Conservation District

1 pm - 3 pm | Partner meeting: Montana Salinity Control Association

🌱 1 pm - 3 pm | Local field trip/tour (restoration ecology & history) details TBD

☕ 2 pm | Snacks & beverages available

2 pm - 4 pm | Virtual Fencing panel- Nofence, Gallagher, Vence, and local landowners

3 pm - 5 pm | CD Project Grant Application Hearings- DNRC

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm | Film & short presentation- Restoring Resilience: Lessons from the Miller Creek Partnership- Radley Watkins (Missoula CD)  & Gretchen Watkins (Clark Fork Coalition) 

Evening Events 

🥣 6 pm | Montana Conservation District Employee Organization banquet, awards, and social event

• Cash bar

Wednesday, Dec. 2

7 am | Registration opens  

🥣 7 am | Breakfast 

8:15 am | Welcome and Opening Remarks

9 am - 9:30 am | NRCS & DNRC updates

9:30 am - 10:30 am | Partner Reports

☕ 10:30 am - 10:45 am | BREAK

10:45 am - 12 pm  |  Breakout Session 1 

• Stream Dynamics 101: Unpacking the Processes that Shape Our Streams and Rivers- Beau Downing, Tetra Tech

• Simplifying 310 Permit Processing and Record Keeping with Gilly - Anne Gage, Gilly

• The Ground Beneath Us: MBMG Resources for Montana’s Conservation Districts- Ginette Abdo and Daniel Brennan, MT Bureau of Mines & Geology

• Start Small, Fund Big: How Conservation Districts Can Lead on Stormwater- Brian Deurloo, Frog Creek Partners

• Montana's Streamside Management Zone Law: What is it and how is it administered- Marc Vessar, DNRC

🥣 12 pm - 1 pm | LUNCH

1 pm - 2:45 pm  |  Breakout Session 2 

• Working Water: Innovating Agriculture for a Resilient Water Future- Valerie Kurth (DNRC), Bruce Thomas (producer), John Lunzer (DNRC), Whitney Lonsdale (Montana Water Center)

• Max Hallfrisch and Ben Harris, Montana Dept. of Labor & Industry

• Building Drought Resiliency, A Featured Stream Restoration Method: Low-Tech, Process-Based Restoration: What is it? How do we use it?- Autumn Holzgen & Regan Ware, Montana Conservation Corps

• Data Center Panel Discussion- Kayla Lappin (City-County of Butte-Silver Bow) & Dr. Bob Morris (MonTech), Caroline Canarios (MEIC)

☕ 2:45 pm - 3 pm | BREAK

3 pm - 5 pm |  MACD Resolutions and Policy Subcommittees - facilitated by Valoree Althoff, parliamentarian

Evening Events 

5:30 pm - 6 pm |  State Leadership Address

🥣 6 pm | MACD banquet and awards

• cash bar

Thursday, Dec. 3

🥣 7 am | Breakfast

8:00 am - 12 pm | Partner meeting: NRCS

8:30 am - 9:30 am | Keynote: Montana Constitution Roadshow - Rylee Sommers-Flanagan

☕9:30 am - 9:45 am | BREAK

9:45 am - 12 pm |  MACD Business Meeting

🥣 12 pm - 1 pm | LUNCH

1 pm - 2 pm  |  Breakout Session 3 

• Grant Advisory Group Initial Meeting

• Running an Efficient District Meeting: AIPSC Fundamentals for MT Conservation Boards- Valoree Althoff, parliamentarian/facilitating meetings speaker

• Fuels Reduction Tool- Teagan Hayes, Intermountain West Joint Venture

☕ 2 pm - 2:15 pm | BREAK

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm | Legislative Committee Meeting

2:15 pm - 3 pm  |  Breakout Session 4 

• Improving Efficiency in 310 Reviews- Hailey Graf

• Building Capacity for the Persistence of Conservation Investment and Retention of Montana’s Grasslands- Northern Great Plains Joint Venture

• 🌱 Low Tech Restoration for Landowners- Robert Pal & Sam Klusmeyer, Ripple *** will return to Fairmont after 3 p.m.***

• 🌱  Clark Fork Remediation/Restoration Phase 7- Racetrack Pond- Brian Bartowiak, MT DEQ *** will return to Fairmont after 3 p.m.***

3:15 pm - 4 pm | MACD Board Meeting (seating of new board members)

3:15 pm - 5 pm |  Listening Sessions and Office Hours

• 310 Q&A Session- Hailey Graf

• DNRC-CD Bureau office hours

• EO listening session