Agenda - Sage Grouse Oversight Team meets Aug. 31

Press release

HELENA The next Montana Sage Grouse Oversight Team meeting will take place Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 152 of the Montana State Capitol building.

MSGOT members will be briefed on interagency collaborative efforts involving rangeland improvement projects and the Rangeland Resources Executive Committee. Members will also be updated on several other topics, including wildfires in sage grouse country, Secretarial Order 3353, and Montana’s efforts to develop candidate conservation agreements.

  The Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program works to sustain viable sage grouse populations and conserve habitat, enabling Montanans to maintain control of their lands, wildlife, and economy by avoiding a listing of the greater sage grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act.  

A copy of the agenda appears below.

AGENDA

Montana Sage Grouse Oversight Team (MSGOT)

Aug. 31, 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Montana State Capitol, Helena, Room 152

10:30 a.m.:  Call to Order, John Tubbs, DNRC Director

· Introductions

· Administrative Matters: 

o Approve minutes June 2 meeting

o Approve tentative meeting dates:  Oc. 5 and December 15

 10:40 - 11:10 a.m.:  Reports and Implementation of Executive Order 12-2015

· Reports from Individual MSGOT Members

o Agency Permitting Program Focus:  Dept. of Environmental Quality

· Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program

· Federal Agency Partners:  USFWS, BLM, NRCS, and USFS

11:10-11:20 a.m.:  Range Improvement Projects Endorsement

· BLM Instruction Memorandum MT-2017-037:  John Carlson, BLM Sage Grouse Implementation Lead and Carolyn Sime, Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program

· NRCS EQIP Projects:  Carolyn Sime, Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program and Kyle Tackett, NRCS Sage Grouse Initiative

· Public Comment and Possible MSGOT Action

11:20-11:35 a.m.:  Secretarial Order 3353 Informational

· John Carlson, BLM Greater Sage-Grouse Implementation Lead

· Christine Dawe, USFS Director, Renewable Resources Management

· State of Montana

11:35-11:50 a.m.:  Wildfire Response & Rehabilitation Informational

11:50 a.m.-12:10 p.m.:  Break

12:10-12:40 p.m.:  Using Resistance and Resilience Concepts to Manage Threats to Sagebrush Ecosystems –  special focus on fire and invasive species

· Dr. Jeanne C. Chambers, Research Ecologist, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station by webinar

2:40-1 p.m.:  Rangeland Resources Executive Committee Informational

· Stacey Barta, DNRC Rangeland Resources Program Coordinator

1-1:25 p.m p.m.:  Candidate Conservation Agreements [with Assurances] Informational

· Karen Newlon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1:25-1:45 p.m.:  Sage-Grouse Program Website Demonstration

1:45 - 2 p.m.:  Public Comment