August 22, 2019

Welcome to the August edition of The Montana Conservationist. In this issue:

• The Prairie Populist has been doing an excellent job covering the work of Conservation Districts. In this recent article, they spoke with Garfield CD administrator Dusty Olson about the work her district is doing around Garfield County, including being the first CD to run an AIS inspection station.
• Soil carbon sequestration is a hot topic right now. That’s why this UC Davis study, 19 years in the making, is so timely. Scientists found that cover crops alone do not store additional carbon in the soil—in the first twelve inches, yes, but that carbon is used and lost by plants—unless the cover crops are paired with compost.  As we start to build carbon markets, information like this is crucial for getting the job done right.
• NRCS Montana recently published a great story about how sage grouse conservation and ranch improvements have gone hand in hand on one property in Carter County.
• Nebraska Farmer reports on the relationship between native prairie and runoff. This may not come as a surprise, but those native roots are darn good filters.
• Northern Ag reports on the growing issue of stress and depression among ranchers and their families.
• Testing has begun for the new water treatment facility that will clean water being pumped out of the Berkeley Pit. Managers are hoping that it will officially go online this fall.
• A new ARS study is showing that US Beef is not a significant contributor to climate change—although less sustainable global beef production practices may be—accounting for just 3.3% of US greenhouse gas emissions.
• A group of submarine hobbyists (its a thing apparently) recently visited Flathead Lake, and helped researchers at the Flathead Biological Station reach unexplored depths. No, they did not find the LochNess Monster (sorry to disappoint)!

Read all of that, plus the always popular Opportunities page, in this edition of the Montana Conservationist: