By Shanna Talcott, Broadus District Conservationist

The Powder River Conservation District in partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Broadus field office are gathering input from local stakeholders on how NRCS can most effectively deliver conservation assistance in Powder River County. To participate, complete a publicly available survey.

Every year, Local Working Group meetings allow farmers, ranchers, conservation partners and other members of the community to discuss the natural resource needs for the county. Based on feedback from those meetings, NRCS prepares and updates long range plans. That information is the basis for a targeted implementation plan, which is a strategy to help agricultural producers in an area implement conservation practices to address a specific resource concern.

Each targeted implementation plan is the culmination of a multi-partnership effort that identifies a specific natural resource issue, sets goals and objectives, evaluates alternatives, establishes partner roles, and develops an implementation and monitoring plan.

This year, the public meeting will be replaced with a survey to update current resource issues and help NRCS make decisions about where to prioritize local funding made available through Farm Bill programs.

Request a copy of the survey from the Powder River Conservation District or provide direct input by emailing elizabeth. [email protected] or calling 406-436-2321 x 111. You can also provide input directly to the NRCS by emailing [email protected] or calling 406-436-2321 x 101.

Local Working Group meeting notices are posted on the NRCS Montana website at http://www.mt. nrcs.usda.gov.