I want to make you aware of what promises to be an outstanding educational event, to be held at the Anipro Event Center in Absarokee on Thursday, May 14 from 9:00am – 4:00pm.

It’s a Property Rights Forum, dealing with issues related to land and mineral development, with commentary from professionals and experts in a variety of fields. The panel is an amazing collection of experts — many of them have been featured on this site because of their expertise.

The event is sponsored by the Stillwater Valley Watershed Council, the Beartooth Stock Association, the Stillwater Protective Association, and Montana State University Extension.

The cost is $15 if you are a member of any of the sponsoring organizations; $20 for non-members.

The panelists, and their connections to issues addressed on this site:

Adam Sigler

Adam Sigler is the Extension Water Quality Associate Specialist in the Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department at MSU Bozeman. He has been conducting water quality research, education, and outreach with MSU Extension since 2005. Adam is the Montana coordinator for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) National Water Program, teaches a junior level water quality course at MSU, works with watershed groups and tribes around Montana to build water quality monitoring capacity, collaborates with the National Park Service’s Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring team on water quality monitoring and conducts educational programming for private well and septic owners in Montana. He has delivered two well-attended water seminars for landowners concerned about oil and gas development that have been covered on the site.

Hertha Lund

Hertha Lund is the founder and owner of Lund Law in Bozeman. She is a Montana native, growing up on ranches around Browning and Lewistown. Hertha covered policy issues in Washington, D.C. for the American Farm Bureau Federation before coming back to Montana for law school. While in law school, Hertha was the co-Editor in Chief of the Montana Law Review. After law school, Hertha clerked for the Honorable Loren Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She is a frequent lecturer on property rights, water rights, and teaches eminent domain continuing legal education courses to other Montana attorneys. She has been representing landowner interest in the state for two decades, including the Belfry landowners who submitted a citizen-initiated zoning petition in Carbon County.

Craig Drake

Craig Drake is Assistant Field Manager with the Bureau of Land Management. He was extremely helpful and informative regarding potential oil leasing of BLM land in the Dean area last year. Partly based on his information, an outpouring of public support caused these leases to be deferred last year.

Breeann Johnson

Breeann Johnson is an Associate attorney with Lund Law. Ms. Johnson’s areas of practice include water rights, land, agriculture, oil and gas, and Indian law. She has significant contract, lease, and easement drafting experience in a wide range of areas including commercial and private-party contracts, oil and gas leasing, agricultural, residential and commercial leases, as well as road and utility easements. She routinely practices before the Montana Water Court on a number of water rights adjudication matters.

 Dick Iverson, Rancher, Culbertson (Bakken area)

Meeting Agenda
9:00 –  9:15:   Introduction of forum and presenters (Moderator, Lee Schmelzer)
9:15 – 10:15:  Baseline Information on Oil/Gas Exploration from Around the State,      Adam Sigler
10:15 – 10:30:  Break
10:30 – 11:30:  Surface Rights vs. Mineral Rights-What Landowners Need to Know, Breeann Johnson
11:30 – 12:30: Federal Leasing and the Development Process, Craig Drake
12:30 – 1:15:    Lunch
1:15 – 2:15:      Pros & Cons of Oil Development and Introduction of the White Paper “Fracking: What Are the Questions?”, Hertha Lund
2:15 – 3:15: Secondary Effects, Dick Iverson, Cattle Rancher, Culbertson, MT
3:15 – 4:00: Questions/Closing Remarks