FOREST LAND 



Northern Montana has nearly one 

 million acres of forest land and lies 

 largely in the Northern Great Plains 

 region. Only 3 percent of the 31.7 

 million acres of land in the 19 

 Northern Montana counties is forested. 



Though not extensive, the forests of 

 Northern Montana have had an important 

 place in the development of the plains 

 country and are a significant factor 

 in protecting part of the upper 

 Missouri River watershed. In the 

 frontier days, the Cottonwood forests 

 along the Missouri were the principal 

 source of fuelwood for the river 

 steamers coming to Fort Benton. Then 

 later, hand-hewn ties from the North- 

 ern Montana forests were used by the 

 transcontinental railroads as they 

 pushed westward. More recently, 

 though, the recreational and water- 

 shed values of these forests have in- 

 creased appreciably. 



The western portion of Northern 

 Montana, including part of Glacier 

 National Park and the Sun River Primi- 

 tive Area, is rugged and massive with 

 a number of snow-capped peaks. From 

 these the prairie country extends 

 eastward to North Dakota. Three iso- 

 lated mountain ranges stand as forested 

 islands in the prairie. They are the 

 Bear Paw Mountains, the Little Rockies, 

 and the Sweetgrass Hills. The major 

 streams in the northern counties which 

 originate within forested drainages 

 are the Milk, Marias, and Teton — all 

 tributaries of the Missouri River. 



All of the 19 northern counties have 

 some forest land. Glacier County, 

 with 400,000 acres of forest land, has 

 the largest forest area. Teton is 

 second with 236,000 acres. In contrast 

 are McCone and Roosevelt Counties, each 

 with less than 1,000 acres. Table 1 

 gives the forest area by counties. 



The forests of Northern Montana can be 

 divided into three broad groups: 



3% OF THE TOTAL AREA 

 IS FOREST LAND 



%'s OF THE FOREST LAND 

 IS CLASSED AS COMMERCIAL 



SOFTWOODS COVER 75%, 

 OF THE FOREST AREA, 

 HARDWOODS 25%, 



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