MNWEC

Quarterly Report

(April-June 2017)

Shantell Frame-Martin

MNWEC Campaign Coordinator

June 30, 2017

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Summary:

The Campaign’s Quarterly Reports and activities of the Project Coordinator (PC) are organized

by headings including: ‘Completed Projects’, ‘Project Updates’, and

‘Meetings/Events/Presentations’. This format is intended to provide an overview as well as

details on completed projects and updates for on-going projects.

For this reporting period (April-June 2017), the following projects have been completed:

• Three PCG Commercials are airing on seven CBS affiliate television stations around

Montana; airing started on 6/19 (see #1, p.3).

• Locations have been selected for the 2017 billboards that will be placed around the state this

summer (see #2, p.3).

• Completed graphic design for four Adopt a Trailhead Montana Project signs to be put up at

trailheads this summer (see #3, p.4).

• Assisted the Ponderosa Snow Warriors with design and development of 10 noxious weed

education ads to air on their local television broadcast station. These ads were also placed on

the Campaign’s Facebook page (see #4, p.4-5).

Progress has been made on the following projects:

• The Montana Realtor Noxious Weed Training course opened for session #2 on April 17,

2017, 51 people signed up and 15 have completed to date with an average score of 97.5%.

This session will end on 10/17/2017 (see #1, p. 5-6).

• Website and Facebook maintenance have continued. Currently the Facebook page has 346

‘Likes’ (see #2, p. 6-7).

• Distribution of the Montana Invasive Species Education and Montana Noxious Weed

Education Project has continued (see #3, p. 7).

• Provided newsletter editorial assistance and organization for the PCG quarterly partners

newsletter (see #4, p. 7).

• A group has been assembled and started the task of reviewing and updating the TIPS For

Small Acreage Landowners (see #5, p. 7).

Meetings, Events & Presentations:

The Campaign was present at 12 events; two of these events included a formal presentation.

These events summed to 191.5 contact hours and 7.5 hours of booth time providing contact with

youth, outdoor youth educators, and outdoor recreationists, three of the Campaign’s focus

audiences (see #1-12, p. 8-11).

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Completed Projects:

1.) PlayCleanGo Themed Commercials

• Air time was secured for the three PCG Commercials. They began airing on 6/19/2017 on

seven CBS affiliate television stations around Montana (Billings, Great Falls, Helena,

Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, Kalispell).

• Commercial #1 aired 6/19-7/2 during Montana This Morning from 5:30-7 am.

• Commercial #2 will be featured in a You Tube ad targeting tourists during the month of

July (30,000 plays), this commercial will also air from 8/7-8/20 during Montana This

Morning from 5:30-7 am.

• Commercial #3 will air 10/23-11/5 during Montana This Morning from 5:30-7 am.

2.) 2017 Outdoor Advertising

• Locations have been secured for outdoor advertising for the summer of 2017. Billboards

will feature the same, ‘Pretty Wildflower? Think Again!’ theme. Billboard construction

began 6/22/2017.

• Billboard locations include:

o Polson/Pablo, Hwy 93- Rush skeletonweed

o Missoula, I-90- Orange hawkweed

o Hamilton, Hwy 93- Blueweed

o Great Falls, I-90- “Got Houndstongue?”

o Billings, I-90- “Got Houndstongue?”

o Outside of Helena, Hwy 12- Dalmatian toadflax

Outdoor advertising billboards that will be placed around the state from late June-September 2017.

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3.) Adopt a Trailhead Montana (AATM)

• AATM signage for the Beartooth Ranger District and the Madison Ranger District have

been designed. Sites for installation in 2017 include:

o Beartooth Ranger District, 3 signs:

▪ Beartrack Trail (Carbon Co.). Species featured: spotted knapweed, oxeye

daisy, yellow toadflax, houndstongue.

▪ Falls Creek Trail (Sweet grass Co.). Species featured: spotted knapweed,

common tansy, oxeye daisy, houndstongue.

▪ Meyers Creek Trail (Stillwater Co.). Species featured: spotted knapweed,

orange hawkweed, Dalmatian toadflax, houndstongue.

o Madison Ranger District, 1 sign:

▪ Bear Creek Trail (Madison Co.). Species featured: spotted knapweed,

Canada thistle, yellow toadflax, houndstongue.

• Other organizations whom have pledged AATM locations and/or are interested in

establishing AATM trailheads:

o The Wildlands Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association has pledged to

adopt (2) trailheads in the Humbug Spires complex located on Butte BLM Field

Office managed lands; Moose Creek and Divide Trailheads.

o The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation has inquired about adopting (1-2)

trailheads leading into the BMWF complex.

o MTWild has pledged to construct (1) kiosk at Spring Meadow Lake outside of

Helena, Montana.

o The Blackfoot Challenge has inquired about adopting a fishing access site/short

walking trail on the Blackfoot River outside of Ovando, Montana.

o Helena Parks & Recreation Department has inquired about constructing up to (6)

AATM kiosks along trails located on the City of Helena managed lands.

4.) Noxious Weed Education Ads

• Assisted the Ponderosa Snow Warriors with the design and layout of ten noxious

weed educational ads to be placed on the local television station near Lincoln,

Montana. One species per week will be featured; the first will air the week of 7/3 and

will continue for nine weeks following. The last of these ads will air the week of

9/4/2017.

• Species featured include: yellow starthistle, houndstongue, Dalmatian toadflax,

blueweed, oxeye daisy, tansy ragwort, dyer’s woad, purple loosestrife, St. Johnswort,

and spotted knapweed.

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These are two of the ten educational ads developed for the Ponderosa Snow Warriors to be aired

on a local television station near Lincoln, Montana. Each of these ten ads will be placed on

the Campaign’s FB page throughout the summer.

Project Updates

1.) Montana Realtor Noxious Weed Training (MRNWT)

• The third session of the Montana Realtor Noxious Weed Online Training course has had

51 people sign up for the course; of those, 15 people have completed with an average

score of 97.5%. This session opened on April 17, 2017, and will end October 17, 2017.

• A “License to Use” was drafted and has been signed allowing the University of Wyoming

(UW) Extension program to use of the MRNWT to develop their own online realtor

training program. This document allows UW to develop their own online training giving

credit to the MNWEC for development of the original program.

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This is a screenshot of the Instructor Gradebook from the Montana Realtor Online Noxious Weed Training.

This session is set to close on 10/17/2017.

2.) Website & Facebook (FB) updates

• The website and FB page continue to be updated frequently (at least weekly for FB).

• To date, the FB page has 346 ‘Likes’ which is an increase of 21 since the January-March

2017 Quarterly Report. Three FB posts were “boosted” as ads at different times

throughout the month of May. To “boost” a post, one must pay for a specified number of

impressions. This paid “boost” earned the Campaign 5,665 impressions and 11,728

people were reached through these ads. The 10 days’ worth of ads cost a total of $50.00.

Prior to this “boost” and paid advertising, each post reaches about 200-850 people,

depending on how many times posts are shared.

• A website revision is set to begin this summer and will provide website visitors with a

more functional website experience; pages will be combined, and ease of navigation

through information will result.

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This screenshot is from the Campaign’s FB page and show the benefit of “boosting” FB posts to reach a larger

audience as well as to gain new “friends” whom can follow the Campaign on FB and see posts repetitively.

3.) Distribution of Educational Materials

• 1,194 of 2,000 copies of Montana Invasive Species Education (MISE) and 3,299 of 5,000

copies of Montana Noxious Weed Education Project (MNWEP) curriculum folders have

been distributed to schools, non-profits, boy scouts, girl scouts and many other

agencies/entities across the state. MISE was released in 2015, and MNWEP was released

in 2013.

4.) Newsletter Contributions

• Provided newsletter editorial assistance and organization for the PCG quarterly partners

newsletter. This quarterly newsletter is distributed to the 445 PCG partners. The June

newsletter will be distributed 7/14/2017.

5.) TIPS For Small Acreage Landowners Revisions

• An outline has been drafted and sections have been assigned to workgroup members.

This project is ongoing and a complete rough draft is estimated in the fall 2017.

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Meetings/Events/Presentations

1.) Montana Invasive Species Advisory Council (MISAC) Education Event

• Attended the MISAC education event at the Capitol Rotunda in Helena, Montana on

4/3/2017.

• A total of 4 booth hours were spent at this event.

Information booth at the MISAC Education Day at the Montana State Capitol for legislators

near the end of the 2017 Legislative Session.

2.) Earth Day Celebration

• Attended the Blackfeet Nation Earth Day Celebration in Browning, Montana on

4/19/2017. Provided a collaborative informational booth with the Montana Department of

Agriculture’s Noxious Weed Seed Free Forage Program. Weed Jeopardy was the

highlight of the booth which provided a fun, interactive learning activity.

• There were 409 people that attended the celebration, and a total of 3.5 booth hours were

spent at this event.

The MNWEC/MDA booth at the Blackfeet Nation Earth Day Celebration in Browning, Montana on 4/19/2017.

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3.) Pesticide Applicator Weed Identification Presentation

• One hour presentation given at the right-of-way pesticide applicator training in Bozeman,

Montana on 4/29/2017. There were 32 people in attendance for 32 contact hours.

• Discussed lifecycles and plant identification.

4.) Lake County Conservation District Farm Fair

• Assisted the Lake County Weed District with an interactive education station at the Lake

County Farm Fair in Polson, Montana, on 5/4/2017.

• There were 200 students that attended, for a total of 13 contact hours.

• Discussed the importance of PlayCleanGo and had a leafy spurge seed spitting contest.

5.) Kootenai Adopt a Trailhead

• Attended the Cabinet Back Country Horsemen Adopt a Trailhead kickoff event in Libby,

Montana, on 5/11/2017.

• A total of 25 people attended the event and helped pull weeds for 2.5 hours for a total of

12.5 contact hours.

Cabinet Back Country Horsemen at their newly installed AATM kiosk located outside of Libby, Montana.

6.) STEM Conference

• Attended the Montana Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Conference to

network with other science and natural resource educators across the state. This

conference was held in Great Falls, Montana on 5/16/2017.

• Promoted the Montana Invasive Species Education (MISE) curricula and the Montana

Noxious Weed Education Project (MNWEP) as resources available for outdoor

educators.

7.) Townsend Noxious Weed Education Day

• Assisted the Broadwater Noxious Weed Department and the Broadwater County

Extension agent with an educational day in Townsend, Montana on 5/22/2017.

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• There were 125 students that attended, for a total of 31.25 contact hours.

• Discussed the importance of PlayCleanGo and had a leafy spurge seed spitting contest.

8.) East Helena Middle School Flood Awareness Day

• Attended East Helena Middle School’s Flood Awareness Day in East Helena, Montana,

on 5/26/2017.

• There were 125 students that attended, for a total of 31.25 contact hours.

• Discussed the importance of PlayCleanGo and conducted a noxious weed identification

contest.

9.) Helena Middle School Service Learning Weed Pull

• Assisted the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Noxious Weed Seed Free Forage

program and MTWild with a service learning weed pull project at MTWild in Helena,

Montana, on 3/5/31/17.

• There were 20 Helena Middle School 8th graders that attended and pulled whitetop,

Dalmatian toadflax, common mullein and spotted knapweed along the trails in Spring

Meadow Lake State Park. A total of 55 contact hours were spent during this event.

• MTWild is interested in establishing an Adopt a Trailhead location at Spring Meadow

Lake State Park.

Helena Middle School 8th graders conducting a Service Learning Project weed pull at MTWild on 5/31/17.

10.) National Trails Day

• Provided an Adopt a Trailhead (AATM) presentation at the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Foundation’s (BMFW) National Trails Day event in Indian Meadows near Lincoln,

Montana, on 6/3/17.

• 40 people attended the event, a total of 14 contact hours were spent at this event.

• The BMWF is interested in adopting a trailhead located within the Bob Marshall

Wilderness Foundation Complex.

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National Trails Day event put on by the Lincoln Ranger District and the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Foundation held at Indian Meadows outside of Lincoln, Montana

11.) Beaverhead Trails Coalition Adopt a Trailhead

• Attended the Beaverhead Trails Coalition Adopt a Trailhead kickoff event in Dillon,

Montana, on 5/14/2017.

• A total of 25 people attended the event (including members of the Montana Noxious

Weed Trust Fund Advisory Council, the Trails Coalition and the Dillon BLM Field

Office) and helped pull weeds for 2.5 hours for a total of 12.5 contact hours.

• The educational AATM kiosk was also installed.

Assisted the Beaverhead Trails Coalition, the Dillon BLM and the Montana Noxious Weed Trust Fund Advisory

Council with the installation of an AATM kiosk outside of Dillon, Montana on 5/31/17.

12.) DRIVE Workshop

• Attended the DRIVE professional development workshop in Lewistown, Montana on

6/28/17. This workshop provided hands-on driving techniques for state employees.