Innovations in Rangeland & Livestock Management Webinar: Grazing Management for a Resilient Ranch
2025-12-04 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver) | Zoom
Join us for a grounded, practical look at how virtual fencing, remote water sensors, and a focus on soil health can make grazing management more practical and adaptable on working ranches.
Jim Armendariz (NRCS State Rangeland Management Specialist) will present on the use of these tools and how they have benefitted his family’s ranch. He’ll also walk through funding options that can help cover equipment and start-up costs and discuss how his focus on soil health has simplified grazing management, making it more intuitive, efficient, and adaptable.
Hosted by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range and NMSU’s Department of Animal and Range Sciences, this webinar series brings forward innovations in rangeland and livestock management from the U.S. and beyond. From new technologies to fresh perspectives on time-tested practices, each session is designed to spark ideas and share practical insights. Our first series spotlights virtual fencing, exploring its applications for grazing management, livestock production, and ecosystem restoration.

Ranch Managers Guild - Welcome & Introductions
2025-12-09 12:00 - 13:00
We are excited to convene the first of our monthly Ranch Managers Guild calls on Tuesday, December 9 at 12pm MT. This call will be held on Zoom and will serve as an introduction to the guild, with remarks from WLA CEO Lesli Allison, and ranch managers Tim Haarmann of Banded Peak Ranch and Billy Whitehurst of Granger Ranches. We will then spend some time on introductions break into small groups to get to know each other and discuss the successes and challenges you’ve seen at the ranch you manage in 2025.
Participation is reserved for active members of the Ranch Managers Guild. Not signed up yet? You can sign up here today.

CalGLC Webinar Series
2025-12-26 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-01-23 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-02-27 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-27 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-04-24 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-05-22 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-06-26 13:00 - 14:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_coc2S4L6RZ2kPmz39RNilA#/registration
Building Partnerships in Stewardship Economies: Ranching, community-based organization, voluntary conservation, rangeland research, and policy-making all intersect in successful efforts for rural economic development and sustainability. Let’s talk about it!
Are you interested in strategies for working more effectively with peers and partners?
Hear from representatives from local, state, and west-wide efforts focused on the stewardship of working lands and working communities by working together.

March 28 at noon PST
Centering Community Voices – Using Situation, Problem Solution Framework

Functionality and dysfunctionality of collaboration
Problems and wicked problems
Feasibility, utility & risk
Situation, problem, solution
Where does innovation and adaptation happen?
Why do we engage or not engage?
Talking through examples like: Public Lands, Water, Wildlife, and Economic Development

April 25
Ranchers in the Driver’s Seat: Addressing risk, strengthening community, and improving quality of life together

Inviting new perspectives and skill sets into your community—and when some just show up
Managing the tensions – being grounded in the community while navigating funding, agency rules/culture, etc.
Leaning into the cycles of conflict and resolution, and knowing when not to partner/collaborate and who to invite
Multi-generational opportunities and challenges
The power of convening/coordinating capacity as generative/emergent

May 30
From ranch to co-lobor-atory, from research to co-production- better science through community partnerships
June 27
Grounded policy – discovering solutions within ranching communities

Monkey Wrench Films presents “Preserved”
2026-01-13 17:30 - 19:00 | Dairy ARTS Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO, 80302, United States
Preserved takes viewers inside Vermejo—a 558,000-acre living laboratory where mountain lions, bears, and countless other species reveal how wildlife is adapting in a changing world. The film spotlights the stewards working to restore this landscape—and why what happens here matters everywhere. The planet can heal. It starts with us.
*** Featuring exclusive performance by musician MILCK ***
SHOWINGS AT 5:30PM AND 8PM

Preserved Film Screening: DENVER PREMIERE
2026-01-14 19:00 - 22:00 | The Oriental Theater, 4335 W 44th Ave, Denver, CO, 80212, United States
Denver Premiere Event with Special Musical Performance by MILCK
Featuring In-Person Conversation with director Ben Clark, author Craig Childs, Protect Our Winters, Western Landowners Alliance, more.
January 14, 2026 • 7:00 pm

Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society Presents: The Coordination and Collaboration in Conservation Conference
2026-02-23 - 2026-02-27 | Missoula Holiday Inn Downtown, 200 South Pattee, Missoula, MT, 59802, United States
We all know that wildlife don’t follow jurisdictional boundaries. We’ve watched the effects of Climate Change impact the environment, regardless of whether the land is Tribal; State; Federally; or Privately owned. And while seeking food, a bear may be looking for a loaded serviceberry bush, but we know they won’t pass up on a household garbage can or an unsecured chicken coop.
In the wildlife and habitat conservation field, the issues we face are often complex and the scope lies beyond any single management boundary. We rely on effective coordination with one another, across jurisdictions and legal boundary lines, to make the greatest impact on wildlife and their habitats. By working together, we can pool resources, expertise, and funding to have a larger impact than any one entity could, alone. For example, regional research and monitoring efforts on Threatened and Endangered species like the North American Wolverine, or Canada Lynx. Data collected across a larger landscape, supplied by multiple State; Tribal; Federal; and Non-Profit agencies, can help researchers model more accurately and provide important insights into species recovery and conservation.
Coordinating habitat management between agencies can also improve landscape consistency. Coordinated burning schedules and water delivery, even weed spraying can increase the impact of any single effort. Wildlife agencies working with non-profit organizations have also helped to secure important habitats through conservation easements. This can help protect larger landscapes, by protecting important travel corridors and connecting already protected habitat complexes.
Another element of this collaboration that we can’t forget to highlight, are the wonderful people in the communities that we live in! They are the stakeholders that share the landscape with wildlife, who also enjoy a healthy ecosystem. They recreate, and are also the volunteers that help count birds and collect important data for programs like the Montana Bee Atlas! We know that our work doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and it takes careful coordination and collaboration to conserve wild spaces and their inhabitants.
In 2026, our Annual Conference of the Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society will seek to honor one another and celebrate the incredible partnerships we have that enable us to achieve the great work that we all do! Keep up the great work!
