Montana Watershed Coordination Council’s biannual Watershed Symposium brings watershed partners from around the state together to connect, learn, and share information to advance collaborative conservation efforts. Attendees joined from watershed organizations, conservation districts, natural resource agencies, tribal nations, nonprofits, academic institutions, together with local representatives, and landowners. This year, the event was hosted in Billings/Winnett, Montana in partnership with Winnett ACES.
The theme for this year’s Watershed Symposium was Beyond the Banks, the impacts of watershed conservation. This 3-day event started with a panel made up of individuals from the Big Hole Watershed Committee, Winnett ACES, Blackfoot Challenge, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Environmental Department, and the Petroleum County Conservation District. The panel shared conservation success stories and highlighted recipes for success. The event continued the following day with keynote speaker Dr. Rachel Frost from the Dan Scott Ranch Management Program at Montana State University discussing how conservation fits in the bigger picture of community, economics, opportunity, and resiliency. The inspiring presentation encouraged attendees to find leverage on the landscape. Participants spent the rest of the day attending various workshops with topics ranging from developing Watershed Restoration Plans, implementing current Watershed Restoration Plans, storytelling, developing social metrics for grassland conservation, sharing metrics, project expectation management, and DIY media production.
On the last day of the Symposium, participants had the opportunity to tour various projects in Roundup and Winnett. In Roundup, the Lower Musselshell Conservation District shared flood resiliency projects that have been implemented as they continue to face frequent and severe flooding. From there, the group drove to Winnett to hear about Winnett ACES Soil Health Program. Winnett ACES welcomed us into their newly built community center as they shared about the land, people, and projects that make Central Montana rural communities so special. Winnett ACES offered various project tour options including wet meadow restoration, stream restoration and native reseeding, wildlife-friendly fencing, and native reseeding and water/grazing infrastructure. The night ended with exploring the town and meeting local landowners. This Symposium draws together such a wide audience and allows participants to learn from one another’s experiences. Monitoring Montana Waters is grateful for all the opportunities that MWCC provides to learn more about protecting Montana’s waters.
