Rebuilt HTML — PaddleOCR-VL (Baidu)

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Trina Jo Bradley, Rocky Mountain Front Ranchlands Group Dalin Tidwell, USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services MT Senator Bruce Gillespie Craig Iron Pipe, Blackfeet Agriculture Department Jeremy Gallagher, Blackfeet Agriculture Department Julie Fambro, Milligan Canyon Ranch Darcie Warden, Ruby Valley Conservation District Tyrele Schaff

Staff Present Mike Honeycutt, EO Dale Haylett, Centralized Services Carolyn Johnson, Centralized Services Evan Waters, Centralized Services Brian Simonson, Deputy EO Donna Wilham, Adm Asst to EO Leslie Doely, LLB Program Manager Lindsey Simon, Agency Legal Counsel

Leslie Doely, LLB Program Member Lindsey Simon, Agency Lega

Board Members Present John Sampsel, Chair (Stanford) Raina Blackman (Wolf Creek) Joe Kipp (Browning) Jordan Mannix (Helmville) Doreen Gillespie (Ethridge)

M1 Department of Livestock Board Room #319/Helena, MT

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Mr. Tidwell reported on OARS, their new data management system, and said that they were able to get approval and put out an announcement for a vacant

Dalin Tidwell, Director for USDA Wildlife Services in Montana, reported by ZOOM, as they were hosting the National Non-Lethal Initiative Workshop Training:

Ms. Doely also reported on the numbers of confirmed or probable depredations she had received from Wildlife Services, but had not yet been sent into the LLB for claims

Leslie Doely gave the LLB an update on depredation claims numbers as of the end of April, adding that she had just that morning, received two more claims to add to her report, one for 12 sheep in Stillwater County that had been killed in October 2025 and one for two calves that had been killed in Lewis & Clark County in April and May of 2025

Brian Simonson said that May 6, 2026 was the deadline for the LLB to submit their three pieces of Legislative requests to OBPP. June 5, 2026 was the deadline to submit the HB2 request to transfer $100,000 to Wildlife Services that had been voted on previously by the LLB

Brian Simonson reported that Personal Services so far this year were listed at $32,674, compared to $77,917 last year due to Leslie Doely coming on board as just a half-time employee and not doing as much travel as George Edwards did. He reported that $257,699 had been spent of the Operating budget with $48,000 left until fiscal year end, which he said was plenty. $337,649 had been given out in grants so far this fiscal year with $168,175 of cash still available for grants. He added that budget numbers were positive with just two months left in the fiscal year. 84% of the LLB budget had been expended, with 62% of the Personal Services budget expended, 80% of the payroll completed and the Operational budget was 29% expended.

Raina Blackman moved to approve the minutes from the Montana Livestock Loss Board February 24, 2026 meeting. Doreen Gillespie seconded. The motion passed.

(16:41) 1:04 PM

MOTION/VOTE

佳 佳 佳

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(1:06:41) 1:54 PM

(1:06:39) 1:54 PM RECONVENE

(1:00:40) 1:48 PM RECESS

Joe Kipp moved to award the grant amount of 70% of the ATV to Rebish-Konen Ranch, for a total of $5,600. Raina Blackman seconded. The motion passed.

(58:29) 1:46 PM

Leslie Doely presented a letter to the LLB sent by Rebish-Konen Livestock, regarding their previous grant request, that had only been partially funded by the LLB. Their original request was for $29,617, and the LLB awarded them $20,517. The letter was requesting that the rest of the original grant be awarded, which included an ATV and storage for that ATV.

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OLD BUSINESS (49:10) 1:37 PM

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Raina Blackman moved to award a portion of the requested grant amount for ear tags and a drone to Milligan Canyon Ranch. Doreen Gillespie seconded. (Raina Blackman withdrew her motion at 2:53 PM - 2:05:53)

(1:39:19) 2:27 PM

(1:38:06) 22:26 PM – Milligan Canyon Ranch

Raina Blackman moved to approach Jess Leach about putting up Joe Kipp's cameras. (No second was made.)

(1:34:33) 2:22 PM

Joe Kipp moved to approve that Jess Leach be approved for his 70% matching grant ask for dog food for his livestock protection dogs, for a total of $1,622.71. Jordan Mannix seconded. The motion passed.

(1:33:38) 2:21 PM

Raina Blackman moved to award a portion of the requested grant amount for the thermal scope to Jess Leach. Doreen Gillespie seconded. (All LLB members voted no) The motion failed.

(1:23:40)2:11 PM

(1:23:08) 2:11 PM – Jess Leach

Joe Kipp moved to award the full requested grant amount of $5,267.50 to Hahn Ranch. Jordan Mannix seconded. The motion passed.

(1:22:20) 2:10 PM

(1:15:40) 2:03 PM – Hahn Ranch

Baidu Mountain Ranch, Inc. Joe Ripp seconded: The motion passed:

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Doreen Gillespie moved to award the full requested grant amount of $2,408.00 to Robert Yates. Jordan Mannix seconded. The motion passed.

(2:46:08) 3:34 PM

Raina Blackman moved to award the full requested grant for Range Riders, in the amount of $15,000.00 to Valley Creek Stock Association. Doreen Gillespie seconded. The motion passed.

(2:42:13) 3:30 PM

Joe Kipp moved to not approve the grant request of Tyrele Schaff, in the amount of $8,942.50, under the advice from a sheep producer that was present at the table. Raina Blackman seconded. The motion passed.

(2:39:18) 3:26 PM

Joe Kipp moved to table the request, at this time, of Tyrele Schaff for a grant amount of $8,942.50, under the advice from a sheep producer that was present at the table. Raina Blackman seconded. A substitute motion was made.

(2:38:46) 3:26 PM

(2:20:34) 3:08 PM – Tyrele Schaff

Raina Blackman moved to award the full requested grant amount of $9,000.00 to Ruby Valley Conservation District. Joe Kipp seconded. The motion passed.

(2:19:52) 3:07 PM

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Senator Gillespie suggested that maybe some brainstorming sessions be held by the LLB to discuss how some of the grants be justified, because Montana funded most of those grants

- The first public comment was received in the form of an email that was read by Brian Simonson, requesting that the LLB compensate for pregnant animals at a higher rate than market value

Jordan Mannix moved to approve the letter of support to the Western SARE Research and Education regarding the Range Rider Training grant request. Raina Blackman seconded. (Doreen Gillespie abstained from voting). The motion passed.

(3:14:39) 4:02 PM

Leslie Doely presented a letter to the LLB from Sabrina Bradford, who was working with the Western Sustainability Exchange who were applying for a grant that would help fund training for Range Riders. The grant would come from the Western SARE. The letter was requesting that the LLB submit a letter of support for them to receive that grant

The LLB decided to set their next grant award cycle for Wednesday, December 9, 2026, with a deadline for grants to be turned into the LLB by November 4, 2026. The LLB also set a meeting date of July 29, 2026 for a short meeting to make a decision on what amount of the leftover claims money should be given to Wildlife Services

With the expectation of receiving even more grant applicants in the future, Leslie Doely shared her ideas on changing grant scoring criteria in the future and was open to hearing ideas from the LLB as well

Joe Kipp complimented and thanked Senator Gillespie on his work on State legislation that would not require State of Montana Tribal members to have an MOU with the LLB