Montana Audubon Fall 2018 Conservation Update

by Amy Seaman

With fall skies and intermittent snow starting to fall on the peaks around Helena, we at Montana Audubon know that fall is passing quickly, propelling us towards yet another year at the Montana Legislature. We are already starting to gear up for the session ahead, and are excited to bring a legislative assistant on-board starting in January. That means, we’re hiring! Please let the conservation minded folks out there know!

For more information on that position, please visit: https://mtaudubon.org/2018/10/legislative-assistant-needed/

As in past years, we will be working closely with other conservation organizations and Montana Conservation Voters to establish policy priorities and stay organized. We began by ramping up our work with this group in September and also by ramping up our outreach in support of Ballot Initiative I-186 – “Yes for responsible mining”. For more on that initiative, please  visit:https://www.yeson186.org/.

Beyond preparing for the tough policy work ahead, as in the past, October has been a month full of raptor surveys and raptor ID training. We had a great time presenting at the Annual Bridger Raptor Fest and have spent a lot of time counting raptors at the Big Belts migration site south of Helena (See the GEMS update). Surveys there will wrap up in early November, leaving us plenty of time to switch gears towards the legislative session.