Our 2021 invasive species conference features topics with national and international impacts; case studies of transboundary cooperation; and technical updates for invasive species managers.
2021 NAISMA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
September 27-30, 2021
Questions? Read our FAQ about what to expect from the NAISMA hybrid conference.
Dates and Daily Schedule for Invasive Species Management Conference
Invasive Species Management Conference Dates
The agenda will kick off on Tuesday, September 27 at 9:00 a.m. MST and will end Thursday, September 30 at 5:00 p.m. MST. NAISMA will hold business meetings Monday, September 26 starting at 9 a.m. MST. This year’s virtual conference will be presented live during the conference dates. Sessions will also be recorded for post-event attendee access. All attendees and registrants will be able to view presentations for up to 1 year after the event. Read the Conference FAQ and check back regularly for updates. Sign up for our monthly Early Detector email here.Continuing Education Credits
Keynote Speakers
Tuesday, September 28th
Transboundary Cooperation: A Case Study of Waterton National Park and Glacier National Park
Jeff Mow, Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Montana
Jeff Mow arrived at Glacier National Park in August of 2013. A 31-year veteran of the National Park Service, Mow served 21 of those years in Alaska. Most recently he was the superintendent of Kenai Fjords National Park based in Seward and in 2012 served as the acting superintendent of Denali National Park. Mow has had many duty stations in Alaska ranging from the icy waters of Glacier Bay to the treeless tundra at Gates of the Arctic.
Mow is a native of Los Angeles. He is a 1981 graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, MN, where he majored in environmental education. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan, focusing on geology. During college and graduate school, he spent four summers in southwestern Montana as a geologic field assistant with the U.S. Geological Survey. After teaching geology at a community college and working for four years as an instructor at the Yosemite Institute, Mow moved north to Alaska to begin his career with the National Park Service.
Mow’s other assignments have included serving on U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a Congressional and Legislative Affairs Specialist for the National Park Service in Washington DC, and superintendent of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado.
Early in his National Park Service career he learned the value of community service and has served as Rotary Club President, Mayor of Alaska’s smallest incorporated city, and community EMT and volunteer firefighter.
Mow is married, has a son in college, and is living in Whitefish. The Mow family enjoys a variety of winter activities and in the “off-season” they enjoy hiking, biking and paddling.
Salman Rashid, Superintendent, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
Sal began his career at Parks Canada in 2001 as a Conservation Biologist for the Mountain Parks.
Since that time he has taken on many assignment opportunities, most recentlyas the Associate Director of the Natural Resources Conservation Branch in Ottawa. Prior to that he was Resource Conservation Manager in Jasper as well as the Field Unit Superintendent in Jasper. Sal has acted as the Field Unit
Superintendent in Waterton twice before coming on as the Superintendent in November of 2018 so is relatively familiar with the operations and situational landscape in Waterton. Sal was excited to be back in Waterton where he had his first graduate program field site in 1991. Prior to working for Parks Canada, Sal worked for eight years for both the Alberta and BC provincial governments in a project management capacity. Sal holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Calgary. Sal has been with Parks Canada for 21 years now.
Wednesday, September 29th
A BioCultural Approach to Integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Western Science for Invasive Species Management and Policy
Paulette Fox, Blackfoot Confederacy, Blood Tribe, Southern Alberta
Paulette M. Fox is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Blood Tribe in southern Alberta. In her Blackfoot language she is known as Natowawaahkaki, which means “Holy Walking Woman.” She owns and operates her own environmental consulting business, Harmony Walkers Inc. Her work with indigenous communities includes a decade with her own tribe along with the IINNII Initiative that involves over 20 Tribes and First Nations in North America. She is a spiritual leader and knowledge keeper. Having worked with provincial government and local industry she is known as a relationship builder and creative designer for linking indigenous knowledge with appropriate aspects of policy, regulation and legislation. Currently she is working with the Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent and the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Paulette has taught for many years at the Red Crow Community College, bringing environmental science and indigenous knowledge together in the classroom. She has also presented and guest-lectured about the importance of buffalo to her culture and how indigenous people see and use the land. She has an MSc degree in environmental science from the University of Lethbridge and a B.Sc from the University of Calgary.
Thursday, September 30th
Update from the US Fish and Wildlife Service
Martha Williams, Principal Deputy Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Growing up on a farm in Montana, Martha Williams gained an appreciation for open lands, waters, wildlife, and people. This passion led her to the wild places of the West and a career spent fostering a love of the outdoors and stewarding the protection of natural resources.
On January 20, 2021, Williams was sworn in as Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is designated to exercise the delegable authority of the director.
Preceding her appointment, Williams served as the Director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks from 2017 to 2020. There, she delivered leadership that embraced the diversity of Montana’s natural resources and outdoor recreational values that also incorporated public expectations and values into the agency’s direction.
Previously, Williams was an Assistant Professor of Law at the Blewett School of Law at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana and co-directed the university’s Land Use and Natural Resources Clinic. She also co-supervised the Public Land and Resources Law Review and the Environmental Law Group.
William’s appointment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a return to the Department of the Interior for the new Principal Deputy Director. Williams served as Deputy Solicitor Parks and Wildlife at the Department of the Interior for two years, providing counsel to the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
From 1988-2011, Williams was agency legal counsel for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, where she advised and represented the department on real estate transactions, Endangered Species Act policy and litigation, and on state and national environmental policy acts. During her tenure, she also taught continuing legal education classes on real property law and on public participation in government.
Williams earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Montana School of Law. She serves on the Boards of Directors for the National Conservation Leadership Institute and the Archie Bray Foundation and on the Advisory Board for the Franke School of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana . Williams is a hunter and an angler.
Field Trip Information
Wednesday, September 29th
Every Wednesday field trip will take place in the afternoon.
Mt. Jumbo Hike – 4 hours
Leaders and Speakers:
- Clancy Jandreau, Missoula Conservaton Lands
- Morgan Valliant, Missoula Conservation Lands
- Stephanie Rogge, Missoula Weed District
~5 mile, moderate hike starting at the Jumbo Saddle, hiking to the top of Mt Jumbo from the north and then down the south face. The hike will pass through a variety of different plant communities, focusing on City of Missoula Conservation Land’s invasive species management, active restoration projects, wildlife management in the wildland/urban interface, trails and provide you with great views of the Missoula and Clark Fork Valleys along the way.
Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C) – 3 hours
Leader/Speaker: Aimee Hurt, WD4C
Working Dogs for Conservation is the world’s leading conservation detection dog organization. Our dogs can detect weeds before they break the surface, animals that live below ground, and aquatic organisms invisible to the human eye. Visit the Working Dogs for Conservation International Training Center just 15 minutes from the conference hotel where you will see one or more dogs demonstrate how they train using scent equipment, how training differs for various species, view outdoor demos on the 44-acre property, and have a chance to ask WD4C staff how their invasive species training and contracting for managers across the US works and how it could work for your management needs.
National Bison Range – 5 hours
Leaders and Speakers:
- Amy Lisk, USFWS
- Melissa Maggio, Missoula County Weed District
- Jessica Mitchell, University of Montana
- Stephanie Gillan, The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
- Annie Sorrell, USFWS
We will kick off this tour with a stop at the Bison Range Visitors Center for an introductory presentation about the rich history and culture of the area and the unprecedented transition occurring from USFWS to Tribal ownership and management. This will be followed by a drive over Red Sleep Mountain for gorgeous views of the Mission Valley and Mission Mountains with Glacier National Park in the distance as well as wildlife viewing opportunities (bison, elk, big horn sheep, antelope, bears and more!). Multiple stops along the way to discuss ventenata management and remote sensing activities that have occurred on the range as well as a history of weed management (on multiple systems) utilizing biocontrol dating back to the 1950s.
Thursday, September 30th
Flathead Lake – CSKT Lake Trout Facility at Blue Bay – 6.5 hours
Leaders and Speakers:
- Kate Wilson
- Barry Hansen (lake trout)
- Les Evarts (lake trout)
- Virgil Duplis (flowering rush)
- Jennifer Andreas (biocontrol, flowering rush)
- Lindsey Bona-Eggeman, Missoula Weed District
- Katie Finley-Squeque, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribe
Join biologists on Flathead Lake to learn about the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribe’s management of lake trout, an introduced fish species in the west. Travel from Whitefish down the east side of Flathead Lake to Blue Bay, a campground and day use area operated by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Over lunch, the participants will hear about the history and co-management of the Flathead Lake fishery, lake trout biology and the Tribes’ innovative management approach to lake trout, which includes both angler incentives with the ‘Mack Days’ fishing events and a the use of nets for capture. From there the group will split into smaller groups in order to visit three separate tours on-site: take a boat ride on the netting vessels (weather dependent); tour the lake trout processing facility where the Tribe’s non-profit Native Fish Keepers Inc. filets, packs and freezes their fish for distribution; and learn about flowering rush, an invading aquatic plant that is threatening Flathead Lake’s habitat and recreational access.
This field trip will leaving Missoula at 10:30 AM and returning around 5 PM. Lunch provided. Hiking/trail shoes, jacket and long pants recommended.
Weed Free Products Tour – 4.5 hours
Learn how to do the NAISMA Certified Weed Free Gravel and new Mulch inspection protocols and standards by touring a local gravel pit and mulch producer in Missoula County. Many federal, state, and local lands require the use of certified weed free forage, gravel or mulch on their properties. The NAISMA Certified Weed Free Products program is the only program in North America that provides land managers with assurance that noxious weeds will not be spread through the movement of forage, hay, mulch, or gravel. In addition, the program provides continuity between participating provinces and states, maintains standards, provides guidelines, and ensures uniform training. Partnering agencies are welcome to include additional species and standards to their own programs. Participating entities are simply required to meet the NAISMA minimum standards.
Registration
If you are registering for multiple individuals with an organization you will want to fill out the registration form for each individual. Multiple registrations can be added to the same cart before completing your purchase.
We look forward to seeing you in September!
*Members: Your 10% discount for the 2021 conference will appear in your cart during checkout. Make sure you’re logged in. If you are not a current member you can add membership as a part of your registration and receive your discount at that time.