What the National Forests Mean to Montana 3 



In contrast to the heavily wooded region west of the Divide is 

 the country to the eastward, with forests confined largely to the 

 mountains. At elevations of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet, extensive 

 areas of lodgepole pine cover portions of the Continental Divide 

 ranges and are a valuable source of mine timbers, poles, and ties 

 for the mining industry and the railroads. This tree here assumes 

 a much greater importance than west of the Divide, where, though 

 widely distributed, it forms a smaller proportion of the total forest 

 stand. Mixed with the lodgepole pine are Englemann spruce and 

 alpine fir. The isolated ranges of the Little Belt and Crazy 

 Mountains rise like islands from treeless bench lands and plains, 

 and bear on their slopes and shoulders forests of pure lodgepole. 

 At lower elevations yellow pine and Douglas fir are found, but the 

 trees are of poorer quality and grow in more open stands than in the 

 moister region to the westward. 





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Fig. 1. — A forest of western yellow pine in the Bitterroot National Forest, 

 tree is the most important timber species in Montana 



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In the extreme eastern part of the State tree growth is very 

 sparse, and is confined largely to isolated buttes and to the rim 

 rocks and bluffs along streams. Such woods as these are utilized 

 with a closeness unknown in places where timber is more plentiful. 

 The Custer National Forest, which includes a group of hills lying 

 between the Tongue and Powder Rivers and further east to the 

 border of South Dakota, has a growth of western yellow pine 

 timber which is a valuable resource for a wide expanse of treeless 

 country. Here the rancher and stockman may obtain fuel wood 

 and fence posts, and a number of small sawmills of the portable 

 type supply lumber for building purposes. (Fig. 3.) It is not 



