III. STUDY AREA 



The Sweetgrass Hills are three isolated buttes and associated ridges 

 located in northcentral Montana near the Alberta border in Liberty and 

 Toole counties, ca. 140 km (100 miles) east of the Rocky Mountain 

 Front Range (Figure 1. Sweetgrass Hills study area). As prominent 

 landmarks, they abruptly jut over 800 m (2500 ft) above the 

 surrounding plains. They cover a total area of ca. 3,220 ha (8000 

 acres), collectively referred to as the Sweetgrass Hills, highly 

 discontinuous across a 34 km (20 mile) distance. The East and West 

 Buttes are higher and larger than Gold Butte (also called Middle 

 Butte) , with much more forest cover and BLM-administered land than 

 Gold Butte, and were the focus of this study. 



The Sweetgrass Hills are the most isolated of Montana's island 

 mountain ranges in their small size and landform discontinuity. 

 Yet they have an exceptionally diverse flora and vegetation that 

 include components typically spanning a wide range of elevations and 

 hydrological conditions. The study area descriptions which follow 

 highlight previously compiled information, and supplementary 

 information for understanding the sensitive species significance and 

 setting uniqueness. The Sweetgrass Hills landmark name implicitly 

 refers to the three buttes, the focus of this and previous studies. 

 Reference to the Sweetgrass Hills in the following text will 

 implicity refer to these landforms unless otherwise stated. 



Surface management of the Sweetgrass Hills is split between public and 

 private ownership (Figure 1. Sweetgrass Hills study area). The 

 Bureau of Land Management administers the largest single land units on 

 top of East and West Buttes, totaling roughly 5780 acres (2340 acres), 

 spanning much of the high elevation habitat. They East and West Butte 

 BLM tracts are continuous, though intersected by private holdings. The 

 only other public lands in the Sweetgrass Hills are administered by 

 the Department of State Lands. Most private holdings are part of 

 ranching operations that are continuous with the surrounding plains, 

 or else small mining parcels. 



Livestock production is the most widespread land use, and takes place 

 throughout the widely-accessible Sweetgrass Hills on both private and 

 public land where there is forage. The area had been selectively 

 logged for fuel and construction material for surrounding residences 

 in decades past. New clearcuts are also appearing on private lands, 

 as noted above Breed Creek on East Butte. The area has a history of 

 mining that goes back to the discovery of gold on Gold Butte in 1884. 

 Numerous oil and gas fields have also been developed at the fringes of 

 the Sweetgrass Hills and surroundings. 



Bureau of Land Management lands on East and West Buttes have been 

 designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) based 

 on the biogeographic and biodiversity significance documented in 

 previous studies (Thompson 1978, Thompson and Kuijt 1976, Western 

 Engineering and Technology 1989) . 



