Preserving agricultural land, legacies in North-Central Montana
Internationally known speaker brings tools to navigate transitions and transfers for farm and ranch families to Malta and Glasgow events in March
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Do you want your farm or ranch business to remain intact for the next generation? Most do.
Do you want the family to get along and come home for gatherings? Most do.
What most farms don’t do is break down assumptions, have robust respectful family meetings, and discover the expectations of ALL family members for the succession or transition of the farm. Elaine Froese is an expert in quickly mapping out the family dynamic and identifying the key challenges that need to be unpacked.
Froese is a certified professional speaker, certified coach, and author. She’s a go-to expert for farm and ranch families who want better communication and conflict resolution to secure a successful farm or ranch transition.
“Most farmers are concerned about death and taxes,” Froese says. “But what they should really be paying attention to are the family dynamics and how emotional factors are keeping them stuck. And all of this is impacting the future success of the farm and ranch.”
Froese will lead events in Malta and Glasgow on Tuesday, March 1 and Wednesday, March 2 titled “Land & Legacies: tools to navigate transitions and transfers,” hosted by the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance.
Each location’s event will begin at 10 a.m., will include a catered lunch, and conclude at 5 p.m. with a social to follow. Registration is $75 for the first individual in a family or farm/ranch business and $35 for each additional registrant. Families and business partners are encouraged to attend together. Every group receives one of Froese’s books, plus personal workbooks to keep each family member moving forward.
“In many farm kitchens there’s a bull in the middle of the room. It’s the ‘undiscussabull,’” Froese says. “It’s the things no one is willing to talk about, and most know they need to talk about these tough issues. They just don’t know how or where to get started.”
Some of these tough topics Froese will cover in her workshops will include:
- Income streams for each generation
- Housing and where each family unit is going to live
- Paying down debt
- More open communication
- Fairness to non-farm heirs
- Conflict avoidance
- Transfer of ownership
- Decreasing anxiety over the uncertainty of the future
Find a full agenda, more information, and registration at www.ranchstewards.org.
Froese’s workshops will also appeal to ranchers and farmers who desire to see their land and agricultural legacies move forward, but who don’t have an apparent family heir, and to young or beginning ranchers who do not have a family business to enter.
Regardless of where your agricultural business find itself in the process, Froese says she’s on a mission to help you get unstuck, communicate better, find harmony through understanding, and secure a profitable agricultural legacy.
Ranchers Stewardship Alliance is a rancher-led non-profit based in Malta, Montana. This event is planned and funded by the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Education Committee with the help of numerous regional and local community sponsors.
Title sponsors include Northwest Farm Credit Services, First Community Bank of Glasgow, Montana Livestock Ag Credit, Inc., Independence Bank Malta and Glasgow branches, The Nature Conservancy of Montana, Bank of Bridger, N.A. Malta and Glasgow branches, and RCAN – Rural Communities and Agricultural Heritage.
Malta local sponsors include: Northwest Realty, Phillips County Title, Blaine County Conservation District, Louie Petrie Ranch, Pleiades Foundation, Phillips County Conservation District (local event co-host).
Glasgow local sponsors include: Edward Jones of Glasgow, United Insurance and Realty of Glasgow.
Sponsorships are still available. Please contact Angel at [email protected] to help sponsor and support bringing these events to your agricultural community! This event will qualify for the continuing professional education credits for the Montana State Board of Accountants.
For more information, visit www.ranchstewards.org or call 406-654-1405.
Ranch Stewards November 2020 Meeting Agenda
We’re looking forward to having you join us at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10 via Zoom for our November Ranchers Stewardship Alliance meeting. The meeting information is below.
Been curious about RSA but not sure how to get involved? This would be a great time to get started by joining a committee! This is where you can really make a difference in guiding the application of our mission: Ranching, Conservation, Communities — A Winning Team!
- Workshop/education committee – Bring a speaker or topic idea you want to learn more about and help share it with the community.
- Phillips County Proud Committee – Plan the social event of the season to celebrate ranching, conservation and communities!
- Conservation Committee – Review and monitor the on-the-ground conservation work of RSA and our partners.
- Communication/outreach Committee – Help share the story of how ranching, conservation and communities make a winning team!
- Expansion Committee – Work with Winnett ACES leaders to find mutually beneficial relationships and grow RSA’s impact in rural communities.
- Fundraising Committee – Develop and execute fundraising plans to ensure a sustainable future for ranching, conservation and rural communities!
If one of those sparks an interest, but you’re unable to join us on Nov. 10, just email Laura at [email protected] and let us know you’d like to be notified of the committee’s work and meetings.
5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020
Ranchers’ Stewardship Alliance November 2020 Meeting Agenda
Connect with VIDEO:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85639528990
Connect with AUDIO ONLY:
One tap mobile: +16699009128,,85639528990#
Dial in: 1-669-900-9128
Meeting ID: 856 3952 8990
Mission Statement: Ranching, Conservation,
Communities – a Winning Team!
Introductions/Roll Call
- Agenda additions/changes
- Outreach: Has anyone presented to any groups pertaining to RSA this last month?
- Review and approve October minutes
- Review and approve financials
Standing Committee Reports:
- Conservation Committee: Sheila Walsh
- Phillips County Proud Committee (now focused on annual meeting): Kelli French
- Workshop/Education Committee: Conni French
- Communication Committee: Dale Veseth
- Fundraising Committee: Aaron Oxarart and Vicki Olsen
- Expansion Committee: Sheila Was
- Membership Committee: Conni (with Fundraising Committee)
- Beginning Ranchers Committee: Casey
Old Business
- NFWF NGP Phase V grant application submitted – Laura/Angel
(Submitted narrative and letters of support attached)
New Business
- Welcome new staff – Linda Poole, office administrator
- ACES updates – Brent Smith
- Conservation Committee requests – Sheila
Announcements/Upcoming Events:
- Oct. 25 – Nov. 20: REGENERATE Quivera Coalition Conference, https://quiviracoalition.org/regenerate/register/
- Nov. 12: 5 p.m., Grass Bank Planning Committee meeting
- Nov. 19: 1 p.m., Communications Committee meeting
- Nov. 30: 6 p.m., Fundraising Committee meeting
- Dec. 1: Expansion Committee meeting
- Dec. 3: Conservation Committee meeting
- Dec. 8: RSA Monthly meeting
- Jan. 12: RSA Annual Meeting
Adjourn meeting
Executive board session to follow
Building a herd and hope
Beginning rancher revitalizes retired CRP to grow her herd and wildlife habitat
By Laura C. Nelson, Ranchers Stewardship Alliance
The old homestead still stands sentinel on the hill.
Weathered, worn and abandoned long ago, Heather Martin has often looked at the relic and wondered just how the brother-sister duo who claimed this parcel more than a century ago thought they could make a living off such a small sliver of sandy soil.
“There’s no well, no running water, and when this reservoir dries up, there’s nothing,” the Phillips County rancher says, nodding to the still pool nestled in the natural basin. “Maybe they got more rain back then, maybe it held more snow – I just don’t know. It had to have been a tough living.”
As decades wore on, making a living on that land didn’t get any easier. It was plowed, then entered into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the 1990s, indicating it was considered marginal cropland, at best. Planted to crested wheatgrass, a non-native but prolific species, it was left to weather the elements like the homestead decades before. The crested wheatgrass took root and covered the bare ground as intended, but wildlife search for tender, native grasses to graze. Dead growth became a barrier to new life.
Still, like many before her, Heather Martin saw opportunity.
“I was trying to grow; we were running out of ground. I was just trying to make it work, this ranching deal,” she says. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’ve known that since I was eight years old.”
Cattle, like the wildlife before, would likely turn their noses up at the brittle, nutrient-poor overgrown and dead vegetation, and Martin feared it was a tinder box of bad luck waiting for a lightning strike and an uncontrollable blaze.
She knocked down what she could with a swather and baled the worst stands the year she bought it. With a land payment pressing, there was no time for further renovations. The dilapidated fence line was ragged at best – “That first year, I was getting heifers in every day. Every day! But what could I do? I had to use it.”
A previous owner had interspersed some alfalfa seed, and native vegetation began inching its way back in. With the first stand knocked back, she bought 600-pound heifers to develop and sold them at 1,000 pounds.
“It’s a producing little pasture,” she says, sure of its potential to grow the nourishment needed to expand her Red Angus breeding program. It’s the perfect spot for developing heifers or for her A.I. and embryo transfer cattle.
“I love yearlings; I love calving heifers, too. I know a lot of people don’t like to bother with it – it’s hard!—but I like the challenge,” Martin says. “I like that you get to be the one who see her ‘get it’ for the first time. You get to teach them, in a way.”
But the land was ready to teach her the same lesson it doled out to generations of westerners before: dreams, ambition, hard work and know-how doesn’t mean much without water.
“In 2017, I hauled water every day to this pasture. The reservoir dried all the way up. If you’ve ever had to haul water, you know – I’m haying, trying to get everything else done, and it’s up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning to haul water, then off to work or to help someone else on their place and back at 11 o’clock at night to fill the trough,” she recalls. “My heart is here – these cows, they’re my heart – but I don’t know. Sometimes you wonder if it makes sense, if it’s really worth it, you know?”
Hope in a hard time
“In 2017, the panic was on – everyone in Phillips County was out of water,” Sage Grouse Initiative Rangeland Conservationist Martin Townsend says. “That summer was a record-setting drought, so it really highlighted where people were low on water. At that point, available water became the most limiting resource for agricultural production.”
When Heather Martin approached the local Farm Service Agency office for potential water development funding, she learned that due to high demand, it would be at least a year before cost-share funding would be available. Instead, she was directed to the Natural Resources Conservation Service to inquire about new conservation funding available through the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA). There, she was introduced to Martin Townsend, who is hired by the Soil and Water Conservation District of Montana to work in the Malta Natural Resource Conservation Service office doing conservation planning and contracting. Townsend also serves as RSA’s volunteer Conservation Committee Coordinator.
The Ranchers Stewardship Alliance was formed in 2003 as a rancher-led conservation organization based in Malta, Montana. The organization’s mission is to help multi-generational and beginning ranchers build the collaborative, trusting relationships and community-based solutions they need to create healthy working landscapes and vibrant rural communities.
In 2017, RSA was awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Northern Great Plains Program for local rangeland improvements to benefit grassland birds, rangeland health and working landscape through livestock grazing.
The grant money would be administered through the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance’s newly formed Conservation Committee, a collaboration of ranchers, state and federal agencies and conservation organizations. Matching funds from Conservation Committee partners brought the total available funds to $410,000.
“The first phase of that grant money was specifically focused on expiring CRP land that could be put into a grazing system,” Townsend says. “The goal is to reduce the risk of cultivation and keep grasslands for grassland birds, while supporting working lands, ranching and the rural community.”
Heather Martin’s project was the perfect fit, smack in the middle of priority habitat for grassland birds like the chestnut-collared and McCown’s longspur. The pasture also falls just outside the core area near a sage grouse migratory corridor and has several active leks (breeding grounds) within a five-mile radius.
It marked all the boxes in promoting biodiversity and healthy wildlife habitat, but most rewarding, Townsend says, is that it offered resilience to a rancher working to grow her herd.
“We want her operation to be functional, because when it is, it’s functional for wildlife, too,” Townsend says.
To do that, the RSA Conservation Committee proposed to drill a new well, install 6,000 feet of livestock pipeline, install two fiberglass water tanks with bird ramps and construct 1.2 miles of perimeter and internal fencing. With a nearly one-to-one match, Martin purchased the tanks and labor to construct the fencing and in turn, the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance would pay to install the well, pipeline and purchase fencing supplies.
“It’s a godsend,” Martin says. “In less than eight months, I had water on this place. I couldn’t believe it.”
Resilience for a first-time rancher
The pickup bounces across what may have once been farming tracks in the hip-high, new growth.
“I’m still getting to know this little pasture,” Martin says. “It takes time to really get to know a piece of land; to know what grows, what does well, the lay of the land.”
The new water system has allowed her to look at this land differently. When she relied on the reservoir for water, it could only be grazed in early spring when water ran. In the first year after the well was drilled and pipeline installed, she was able to experiment with winter grazing with cattle foraging into December. Now, she can rest the pasture through the spring and summer to allow fresh regrowth.
She’s not the only one reaping the benefits of the reinvigorated landscape.
She’s mid-sentence when she stops the pickup abruptly and points: “Grouse.”
There, nestled in the swaying sweet clover, the female sage grouse finds cover. Earlier in the spring, the shorter, new grass would be ideal for songbirds, and throughout the year, antelope move through the landscape. In recent years, Martin has seen more elk making their way through her pastures, and one year, she spotted a rogue moose.
“That’s the beauty of a grazing system,” rancher and RSA Conservation Committee chair Sheila Walsh says. “It creates diversity on the landscape that a variety of wildlife needs to thrive. But what’s just as important to us is that it can allow a young rancher to thrive, too.”
Martin still has more fencing work to complete her end of the RSA conservation match. The cross-fencing will help her create an even more detailed grazing plan and add more options to her breeding program. As she develops her herd, she’s working toward more purebred breeding stock to sell. She’s in her second year offering registered Red Angus bulls in collaboration with the Rough Country Breeders sale and sees opportunity to offer more.
“I just love what I do,” she says. Sticking with it involves a lot of stubbornness, she laughs, but it also requires a bigger team. “Starting out on my own and building my own program has been hard,” she says. “But I’ve had a lot of people pulling for me in places I needed them. And for that, I’m thankful.”
# # #
About Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, Inc.: In 2003, about 30 ranching families in northern Montana came together to resolve common problems they faced. Now known as RSA, this rancher-led conservation organization works to strengthen our rural community, economy and culture. Our mission is to help multi-generational and beginning ranchers build the collaborative, trusting relationships and community-based solutions they need to create healthy, working landscapes and vibrant rural communities.
About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 5,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $6.1 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.
Ranchers Stewardship Alliance August Meeting Agenda
We’re looking forward to having you join us at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 via Zoom for our monthly Ranchers Stewardship Alliance meeting. The meeting information is below.
Been curious about RSA but not sure how to get involved? This would be a great time to get started by joining a committee! This is where you can really make a difference in guiding the application of our mission: Ranching, Conservation, Communities — A Winning Team!
- Workshop/education committee – Bring a speaker or topic idea you want to learn more about and help share it with the community.
- Phillips County Proud Committee – Plan the social event of the season to celebrate ranching, conservation and communities!
- Conservation Committee – Review and monitor the on-the-ground conservation work of RSA and our partners.
- Communication/outreach Committee – Help share the story of how ranching, conservation and communities make a winning team!
- Expansion Committee – Work with Winnett ACES leaders to find mutually beneficial relationships.
- Fundraising Committee – Develop and execute fundraising plans to ensure a sustainable future for ranching, conservation and rural communities!
If one of those sparks an interest, but you’re unable to join us on Aug. 11, just email Laura at [email protected] and let us know you’d like to be notified of the committee’s work and meetings.
[sm_hr]
5 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 — Zoom call-in ONLY
Ranchers’ Stewardship Alliance August 2020 Board Meeting Agenda
Connect with VIDEO: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83911169537
Meeting ID: 839 1116 9537
Connect with AUDIO ONLY:
Dial by your location: +1 346 248 7799
Meeting ID: 839 1116 9537
One tap mobile: +13462487799,,83911169537#[hr]
Mission Statement: Ranching, Conservation,
Communities – a Winning Team!
- Introductions/Roll Call
- Agenda additions/changes
- Outreach: Has anyone presented to any groups pertaining to RSA this last month?
- Review and approve July minutes
- Review and approve financials
- Standing Committee Reports:
- Conservation Committee: Sheila
- Phillips County Proud Committee: Kelli
- Workshop/Education Committee: Conni
- Communication Committee: Dale and Casey
- Fundraising Committee: Aaron and Vicki
- Expansion Committee: Sheila
- Membership Committee: Conni
- Ad Hoc Committee Reports
- Beef Donation Committee: Kelsey, Vicki, Laura
- Beef Donation Committee: Kelsey, Vicki, Laura
- Old Business
- Strategic Plan/BIG GOALS review
- Migration corridors public meeting potential, a follow up from Cole Mannix’s last report – Laura
- WWF’s re-seeding grant – Claire Hood, WWF
- New Business
- Overview of the Great American Outdoors Act – Bob Sanders, Ducks Unlimited
- Wildlife Crossing Program – Naomi Alhadeff, National Wildlife Federation
- ACES update – Brent Smith
- ACES/RSA partnership ideas
- Request for Proposal, Bear Paw Mountains ranch lease – Leo
- Conservation Committee requests – Sheila
- New project approvals: North Blaine Seeding Project
- New member approval: Jared Beaver, MSU
- Sponsor Tom Curtin Horsemanship Clinic – Kelli
- Announcements/Upcoming Events:
- Aug. 29-30: Nicole Masters workshop in Malta. Register at https://tinyurl.com/y57gyv9b – POSTPONED
- Sept. 4-6: Tom Curtin Quality Horsemanship Clinic, Glasgow. Contact Aimee Kirkland at 307-620-1100 or [email protected] to register.
- Sept. 8: RSA Monthly Meeting Sept. 8, 2020; _________ p.m.
- Sept. 9-10: Montana Range Tour, Malta, MT (POSTPONED to 2021)
- Adjourn meeting
- Executive board session to follow
July Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Meeting
We’re looking forward to having you join us at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 14 at the Malta Business Center or via Zoom for our monthly Ranchers Stewardship Alliance meeting. The meeting information is below. Curious about what kinds of discussions happen at an RSA meeting? See highlights from our June meeting here.
Planning to join us in person? Please bring a light potluck item to share, if you’re able. If you’re Zooming in, know that we’ll have a short (5-10 minutes) break around the middle of the meeting to give you a chance to step away from your computer, grab a snack, stretch your legs, etc.!
Been curious about RSA but haven’t had a chance to come to a meeting yet? This would be a great time to join us! We’ll review committee assignments and find the right place for you to jump in:
- Workshop/education committee – Bring a speaker or topic idea you want to learn more about and help share it with the community.
- Phillips County Proud Committee – Plan the social event of the season to celebrate ranching, conservation and communities!
- Conservation Committee – Review and monitor the on-the-ground conservation work of RSA and our partners.
- Communication/outreach Committee – Help share the story of how ranching, conservation and communities make a winning team!
- Expansion Committee – Work with Winnett ACES leaders to find mutually beneficial relationships.
- Fundraising Committee – Develop and execute fundraising plans to ensure a sustainable future for ranching, conservation and rural communities!
If one of those sparks an interest, but you’re unable to join us on July 14, just email and let us know you’d like to be notified of the committee’s work and meetings.
___________________________________
5 p.m., Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Malta Business Center (in person) or Zoom call-in
Ranchers’ Stewardship Alliance July 2020 Board Meeting Agenda
Connect with VIDEO:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85950236894
Meeting ID: 859 5023 6894
Connect with AUDIO ONLY:
Dial by your location: +1 346 248 7799
Meeting ID: 859 5023 6894
One tap mobile: +13462487799,,85950236894#
Mission Statement: Ranching, Conservation, Communities – a Winning Team!
View the full meeting agenda as a PDF here: 2020_07_14_RSA Meeting Agenda
Looking forward to seeing you July 14!
