Working with several local groups, 350 Montana is sponsoring three climate resilience workshops the last weekend of September. The workshops take place from Noon to 5 P.M.:
• Friday, September 26, in Polson at the North Lake County Public Library (102 1st Street East),
• Saturday, September 27, in Libby in the Ponderosa Room of the City Hall (418 Mineral Avenue), and
• Sunday, September 28 in Thompson Falls at the Riverbend Golf Course Clubhouse (46 Golf Course Road).
Each forum has been designed by 350 Montana co-chair, Hannah Hernandez, to explore rural resilience. It goes without saying that Montana’s natural resources are vulnerable to climate change. And, in turn, Montana’s rural economy and communities are directly dependent on our natural resources.
It’s best to be prepared.
Speakers for Resilience (Bio’s below)
Speakers include Dr. Kyle Bocinsky, an assistant research professor in the Department of Society and Conservation and the Director of Climate Extension for the Montana Climate Office, Pam Whitney, Infectious Disease Specialist for Missoula Public Health, and Robin Kelson, Executive Director, Abundant Montana.
Community climate resilience is the practice of adapting to changes and mitigating the harm. Join us for an afternoon of community brainstorming and roadmap building. It’s free with lunch provided. Climate changes will severely challenge Montana rural communities, shifting economic activity and capacity to thrive. Commodities, value-added crops, and recreational activities will see changes in timing of seasons, temperatures, and precipitation.
Our economic viability is threatened. Our community’s stability will be stressed.
This forum is an invitation to explore rural climate resilience in Western Montana. We are simply planting a seed that will germinate, grow, blossom, and bear fruit. May we plant seeds that grow a beautiful garden that creates community relationships that thrive for at least the next seven generations!
For more information, call (406) 880-8320. Sponsors include 350 Montana, the Kootenai Climate Group, the Cabinet Resource Group, Abundant Montana, the Montana Climate Office, the Flathead Lakers’ climate café, and Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate.
Dr. Kyle Bocinsky, University of Montana
Dr. Kyle Bocinsky is an assistant research professor in the Department of Society and Conservation and the Director of Climate Extension for the Montana Climate Office, housed in the WA Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. He serves users of climate data and information in Montana, including outreach supporting agriculture, forestry, recreation, and urban and rural resilience planning, with a special emphasis on partnering with Native Nations to meet their climate resilience goals. Kyle is an anthropological archaeologist who specializes in cross-disciplinary, computational approaches to studying resilience in socio-ecological systems, with a focus on high-elevation arid agricultural systems. In addition to his positions at UMT, Kyle holds appointments at the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Desert Research Institute and the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. He loves living in the Northern Rockies — and especially being outdoors with his husband, daughters, and dogs year-round.
“Western Montana is experiencing rapid climate change, with rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasing extremes such as flash droughts and atmospheric rivers. This presentation explores observed trends and future projections for the Crown of the Continent and surrounding region, drawing on high-resolution CMIP6 climate models and multiple emissions scenarios.”
Pam Whitney, Infectious Disease Specialist – Missoula Public Health
Pam has been a Registered Nurse for 38 years and a Public Health Nurse for 30 of those years. She is a Disease Intervention Specialist investigating over 80 of the reportable communicable diseases in Montana. Pam is involved in many outreach projects through the health department to include Infectious Disease/STI education to organizations and schools, Community infection control, collaborating with community partners, HIV/Hepatitis C testing and other activities. Pam lives in Missoula and can often be found with her husband (a retired ID physician), on a sailboat on Flathead lake or Galveston Bay, Texas.
“Climate change is linked to human health in many ways.”
Robin Kelson, Executive Director, Abundant Montana
Robin joined AERO’s staff in 2020 after two terms on the AERO Board of Directors. She is a graduate of the Leadership Montana Flagship Class of 2023. Trained as an attorney, biochemist, and facilitator with a talent for synthesizing information, Robin has worked with both start-up and Fortune 500 companies and held executive positions in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Her passion and curiosity focuses on human vitality and the resiliency principles built into evolution and ecosystems, and this has led her career choices in the sustainable energy, stewardship agriculture, and nutritional health fields for over 25 years.
“In the 1950s, 70% of the food we ate in Montana was grown in Montana. Today? It’s only 3%. Importing 97% of our food from national and global sources puts Montanans in a vulnerable, risky position. Abundant Montana is leading a statewide initiative to get from 3% to 33% by 2033. Join Robin Kelson, Executive Director of Abundant Montana, to explore: What will it take to get to 33% by 2033 in your community?”