Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: St. Pierre, M. R.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
STONE CHILD COLLEGE
RR1, BOX 1082
BOX ELDER, MONTANA 59521

STONE CHILD COLLEGE BEGINNING FARMERS AND RANCHERS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM RESOURCE AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT (RTAP)

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation was established by an Act of Congress in 1916. Located in north central Montana, the reservation is isolated and rural, roughly 100 miles from the Canadian border. Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is home to the Chippewa and Cree people. The reservation is situated on the northern and eastern slope of the Bear Paw Mountains, an isolated mountain range surrounded by farming and ranching prairie communities. At just over 122,000 acres, the reservation includes mountainous terrain to the south and east, with foothill territory receding into prairie lands towards the northern and western ends of the reservation. The community of Chippewa and Cree people includes 6,839 enrolled members with 4,017 enrolled members living within the confines of the reservation. The population on the reservation has historically had a 70% average annual unemployment rate. The northwestern area of the reservation contains most of the operable and settled land assignment leases. The reservation land is not allotted, which allows for the current land assignment leases to individuals that can be passed down within families. This region of settled leases contains the corporate center of the tribe: the Agency, including the Business Committee offices, central services, the clinic, tribal courts, Rocky Boy Schools and most of the services for the community. The foothills region contains the home site areas of: Haystack, Parker School, Parker Canyon, Sangrey, Upper Road and Middle Dry Fork which contain about one third of the home sites located on the reservation. The Plains region, located in the northern and western corner of the community, is bordered by the unincorporated town of Box Elder. This region includes seven villages starting just within the reservation border and up to the Middle Dry Fork drainage, and the rest of the home sites in the community. Dry Fork Farms is located in this region. Dry Fork Farms is owned and operated by the tribe, and farms just over 8,000 acres of dry land, including 2,600 irrigable acres, with 700 actually irrigated. The farm provides hay to the cattle ranchers at the local market rate. The Tribe currently has 34 cattle operators who collectively have over 1800 head of cattle on 30 range units (including 12 summer units in the mountains) on a total of 65,000 acres. We have identified twenty (20) current beginning farmers and ranchers. Four (4) of those are from families who have a background in farming and/or ranching, twelve (12) of those are individuals who hold leases and have gainful employment and the remaining four (4) have leases but do not currently have gainful employment. Two (2) individuals in this group (10%) are veterans with a farming or ranching background. In addition to the twenty (20) beginning farmers and ranchers already identified, the project will recruit an additional twenty (20) potential beginning farmers and ranchers for a total of forty (40) individuals to receive training. All of the targeted individuals are socially disadvantaged. Leases can be overgrazed in the spring and the fall due to summer herd management necessity. The uncertainty in northcentral Montana spring weather requires ranchers to move their herds to the summer pastures in late May or early June. In the very early spring months while the animals are still in their winter pastures, the cattle will eat exposed forage more than the rancher would desire, especially during a big sale year when the herd is larger than normal. During the fall, ranchers move their cattle down to the winter pastures. The fact that the winter pastures are closer to home facilitates easier winter feeding. It also makes it easier to manage the herd during calving season, which is in the winter as well. Also, the summer ranges are in rugged mountainous terrain with brush and, in some places, heavy forest. These conditions require the rancher to ensure that their cattle are down in the winter pastures earlier to give them time to locate lost animals and bring them down from the mountains. Like the early spring forage, the late fall forage can be undesirable and lead to overgrazing. Ranchers, especially beginning farmers and ranchers, will benefit from the annual updated leaseholder information dissemination discussed below to find available leases located nearby for early spring and late fall grazing. Services available outside the reservation boundaries include assistance that has been accessed by both stakeholders and SCC Extension projects. First stakeholders have accessed a Farm Loan Program operated from Chinook, Montana a one hundred (100) mile round trip from Rocky Boy.The Farm Loan Program provides technical assistance in the form of loan application assistance, grazing practices, and land management. The level of support that the farmers and ranchers have received from the Farm Loan Program is mixed at best. Usually, after several 100-mile round trips, the farmers and ranchers get frustrated and are not successful in pursuing farm loans. SCC Extension is involved in partnerships with the Northern Agriculture Research Center (NARC), the University of Montana (UM), and Kamut International. These partners and collaborations will further boost the knowledge base for beginning farmers and ranchers now and into the future. We have proposed the Stone Child College Beginning Farmers and Ranchers RTAP to: Perform comprehensive data collection and create an overall needs assessment report and a strategic plan; Connect beginning farmers and ranchers to the technical assistance and resources they need to create sustainable and economically viable farming operations; Connect lease holders to resources and information to facilitate the efficient and effective use of individual leases; Develop a map of the reservation which details lease assignments, leaseholder arrangements, and crop and/or range unit identification; Provide twice monthly training sessions for beginning farmers and ranchers in all aspects of farming and ranching; andProvide for constant and consistent beginning farmers and ranchers (i.e., stakeholders) input throughout the project period, including the development of the training manual to assure that all aspects of farming and ranching which the stakeholders want to learn are covered by the training sessions.

OBJECTIVES: Stone Child College Beginning Farmer and Rancher Resource and Technical Assistance Project will access comprehensive national, regional, state, and local data; and provide resources and available technical assistance for lease holders and beginning farmers and ranchers.Goals:Collect relevant data, resources and technical assistance availability at the national, regional, state, and local level for farmers, ranchers and lease holders.Combine all data, resources and technical assistance into one training manual for lease holders and beginning farmers and ranchers. Evaluate the training manual for completeness and impact. Update the training manual each year for the project period and every five years thereafter.Strategies:Conduct a needs assessment/survey of stakeholders and the community at large.Contact national, regional and state resources to create a comprehensive set of data, resource and technical assistance sources.Perform stakeholder and community meetings to address the data, resources and technical opportunities and availability of resourcesComplete the RTAP training manual.Perform twice monthly training sessions in years two and three of the project period for beginning farmers and ranchers based on the developed andcompleted training manual.Perform quarterly training sessions within the scope and sequence of the RTAP traing manual for community lease holders. In the first 12 months of the project period, the RTAP Project Coordinator (in conjunction with the Extension Agent, College President, Natural Resources Director, and other partners and stakeholders) will perform an extensive survey/needs assessment and develop a training manual for beginning farmers and ranchers, leaseholders and stakeholders in the community. This will be evidenced by project records, monthly reports, comprehensive data acquisition, survey results, a completed needs assessment report and the completed training manual for beginning farmers and ranchers and leaseholders. During years two and three of the project period, the RTAP Project Coordinator and Extension Agent will provide at least forty (40) beginning farmers and ranchers and leaseholders with resources and technical assistance through a series of trainings to be held twice monthly (24 training sessions per year). This will be evidenced by project records, monthly reports, training certificates of completion and attendance records