Description: Occupied range is an estimate of the minimum, roughly contiguous area within which bears have established residency or have demonstrated habitat use. It does not encompass the total known extent of occurrences. The occupied range boundaries are updated every two years, are based data obtained during 15-year (NCDE and GYE) or 20-year (SE, CYE) windows of time, and are delineated to provide reliable estimates of grizzly bear occupancy through time and for use as a monitoring tool in grizzly bear management and conservation. See Credits section for citation information for each grizzly bear population. This layer is a single polygon created by dissolving the individuals polygons for each population and clipping to the Montana boundary
Service Item Id: b694189ee40c414f8c7876a5d832c2b9
Copyright Text: Cabinet-Yaak Population: Kasworm, W. F., T. G. Radandt, J. E. Teisberg, T. Vent, M. Proctor, H. Cooley, and J. K. FortinNoreus. 2023. Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery area 2022 research and monitoring progress report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missoula, Montana. Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population: Dellinger, JA, BE Karabensh, and MA Haroldson. 2023. Grizzly bear occupied range in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, 2008-2022. Pages 22-24 in FT van Manen, MA Haroldson, and BE Karabensh, editors. Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations: annual report of the Interagency grizzly Bear Study Team, 2022. US Geological Survey, Bozeman, Montana, USA. Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Population: Costello et al. 2023, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Population Monitoring Team Annual Report – 2022.
Description: From the Arctic Slope in Alaska to the Mississippi Delta, and from the Northeast’s Long Island Sound to the wetlands of the Everglades, the power of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) cannot be overstated. Audubon is leading the way to protect these iconic places and the birds that depend on them, and mobilizing our network of Chapters to act as stewards.As the U.S. partner for BirdLife International, Audubon spearheads an ambitious effort to identify, monitor, and protect the most important places for birds. We also collaborate with 19 international partners to extend a web of protection throughout the Western Hemisphere. To date Audubon has identified 2,758 IBAs covering 417 million acres of public and private lands in the United States. Among them are high-priority Global IBAs—places like New York City’s Jamaica Bay, areas within Alaska’s Arctic Slope, and coastal bird sanctuaries in Texas. Birds depend on a diverse range of habitats, and the threats that confront them are equally varied.Curious how you can help protect an IBA near you? Download a copy of Cooking Up Conservation Success: Recipes Across the U.S. Important Bird Areas Network. To learn more about the program, watch a video on Audubon's work to conserve IBAs. For additional questions regarding Important Bird Areas, contact [email protected]. To request IBA spatial data please submit your request here.
Service Item Id: b694189ee40c414f8c7876a5d832c2b9
Copyright Text: National Audubon Society, BirdLife
Description: Although much of the county consists of lands where recreation is allowed, some areas are specifically created for, and/or actively managed for recreation. The map identifies these areas, as well as designated Wilderness Areas in Missoula County.
Forest Service Recreation Areas—The Forest Service allows recreation on most all of its lands, but specifically manages a few areas specifically for recreation in Missoula County, where activities such as hiking, skiing, mountain biking and horseback riding are among the most popular activities.
Wilderness Areas—While managed for a variety of purposes, wilderness areas are often best known for their dispersed recreation opportunities. The map shows all areas managed as wilderness areas in Missoula County.
City Open Space Areas—The City of Missoula maintains several larger areas of land for Open Space, in which dispersed recreation is allowed and encouraged. Neighborhood Common Areas and Undeveloped County Parks—Many of the County Parks are currently undeveloped and managed as natural areas, allowing opportunities for dispersed recreation. Similarly, many neighborhoods have Common Areas that allow for recreation at the neighborhood level. (Note that not all common areas allow for public use).
Description: The map displays the locations of sites of recognized historic interest in Missoula County. The Conservation Resource Geodatabase includes the site name and additional information about features of the site. *Note that because of the cultural sensitivity of information about historic Native American sites, they are not mapped here, but should still be recognized as resources of conservation interest. In addition, many other sites of historic interest likely exist but have not been formally recognized.
Historic Sites—Historic sites shown on the map include historic assets that are not on the National Register but have been identified by the Missoula Historic Preservation Officer as sites of local historic interest. The types of sites include homesteads, schoolhouses, ranger stations, and other sites of historic interest. The map also shows the locations of fire lookout towers that are of historic interest.
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Description: The map displays the locations of sites of recognized historic interest in Missoula County. The Conservation Resource Geodatabase includes the site name and additional information about features of the site. *Note that because of the cultural sensitivity of information about historic Native American sites, they are not mapped here, but should still be recognized as resources of conservation interest. In addition, many other sites of historic interest likely exist but have not been formally recognized.
Historic Trails—Trails that were historically used as main thoroughways through Missoula County. Mapped trails are an approximate documentation of what was once there, and in most cases the trails no longer exist.
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Description: The map displays the locations of sites of recognized historic interest in Missoula County. The Conservation Resource Geodatabase includes the site name and additional information about features of the site. *Note that because of the cultural sensitivity of information about historic Native American sites, they are not mapped here, but should still be recognized as resources of conservation interest. In addition, many other sites of historic interest likely exist but have not been formally recognized.
National Historic Register Districts and Buildings—Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register includes districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.
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Description: The map shows general areas (within public land survey sections) that contain sites of archaeological interest. Sites include: cribbed log structures, historic agriculture sites and irrigation systems, historic building foundations, historic mines and railroads, mammal fossils, rock cairns, and others. Because of the sensitivity of these sites to disturbance and vandalism, the specific locations of sites are not publicly available. Instead, the map identifies sections that may contain sites of archeological interest. For more detailed information, contact the Missoula Historic Preservation Officer and/or the Montana State Historic Preservation Office. NOTE: This information represents known recorded sites. As many areas of Montana have yet to be inventoried, the absence of Cultural/Historic sites on the maps is not necessarily evidence for the absence of sites. In addition, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes maintain information about the location of sites of archaeological and cultural importance, including undisturbed spiritual sites, prehistoric and historic campsites, burial grounds, and other cultural sites. Because of the extreme cultural sensitivity of the information, these places are not mapped, but are nonetheless important for conservation.
Description: The map shows areas that are currently developed for recreation. It does not identify lands that may be appropriate for developed recreation in the future. Specific layers that are shown include:
Forest Service Recreation Areas—The map shows the location of developed recreation sites on Forest Service lands. The Conservation Resources Database includes information about each site, including site’s name and the developed recreation opportunities available, such as campgrounds, picnic areas, viewing areas, points of interest, interpretive sites, and trailheads. City Parks—The maps shows the location of parks and developed recreation sites owned and maintained by the City of Missoula. The Conservation Resources Database includes the name of each site.
County Parks—The map shows the location of developed parks owned and maintained by the Missoula County Parks Department. The Conservation Resources Database includes additional information about each park, including the name, the type of facilities available, and other information.
School Grounds—The maps shows the location of schools and school grounds in Missoula County; most have developed play areas associated with them that are available to the general public during non-school hours.
State Parks—The map shows the location of state parks that are owned and managed by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The Conservation Resources Database includes information about recreational facilities and opportunities available at each.
Description: The map shows areas that are currently developed for recreation. It does not identify lands that may be appropriate for developed recreation in the future. Specific layers that are shown include:
Forest Service Recreation Areas—The map shows the location of developed recreation sites on Forest Service lands. The Conservation Resources Database includes information about each site, including site’s name and the developed recreation opportunities available, such as campgrounds, picnic areas, viewing areas, points of interest, interpretive sites, and trailheads. City Parks—The maps shows the location of parks and developed recreation sites owned and maintained by the City of Missoula. The Conservation Resources Database includes the name of each site.
County Parks—The map shows the location of developed parks owned and maintained by the Missoula County Parks Department. The Conservation Resources Database includes additional information about each park, including the name, the type of facilities available, and other information.
School Grounds—The maps shows the location of schools and school grounds in Missoula County; most have developed play areas associated with them that are available to the general public during non-school hours.
State Parks—The map shows the location of state parks that are owned and managed by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The Conservation Resources Database includes information about recreational facilities and opportunities available at each.
Forest Service Recreation Areas—The Forest Service allows recreation on most all of its lands, but specifically manages a few areas specifically for recreation in Missoula County, where activities such as hiking, skiing, mountain biking and horseback riding are among the most popular activities.
Wilderness Areas—While managed for a variety of purposes, wilderness areas are often best known for their dispersed recreation opportunities. The map shows all areas managed as wilderness areas in Missoula County.
City Open Space Areas—The City of Missoula maintains several larger areas of land for Open Space, in which dispersed recreation is allowed and encouraged. Neighborhood Common Areas and Undeveloped County Parks—Many of the County Parks are currently undeveloped and managed as natural areas, allowing opportunities for dispersed recreation. Similarly, many neighborhoods have Common Areas that allow for recreation at the neighborhood level. (Note that not all common areas allow for public use).
Description: The map shows lands that are typically open for public hunting, in accordance with hunting regulations and local land management plans. These include:
Public Lands—Lands managed by the United States Forest Service (with the exception of developed recreation areas), US Bureau of Land Management, MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (with the exception of State Parks). Private Lands—Plum Creek Timber Company has traditionally allowed open access for hunters on all of their timber lands, and that benefit will transfer to lands being sold to the Nature Conservancy/Trust for Public Lands as part of the MT Legacy Project. Hunting is also allowed on other private lands, at the discretion of the landowner. Many landowners opt to enroll in the Block Management Program with Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, while others prefer to manage hunting on their own. ** Block management areas change regularly at the discretion of the landowner, and thus are not mapped here; contact FWP for maps of current Block Management areas. **
Description: The Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) is required to value private agricultural land based on primary use for tax purposes. This map shows areas in Missoula County that meet these DOR definitions:
Irrigated Land—land where human-engineered water delivery systems apply water to hay or crops to increase production. Land that has water available for irrigation most years is classified as irrigated if the water is used. Land that has water for irrigation most years, but the water is not utilized, is not classified as irrigated.
Non-irrigated Hay Land—land where hay is cut a majority of the years. This can include native vegetation cut for hay yearly, or a majority of the time over a period of years, as well as non-irrigated alfalfa and other domestic varieties cut for hay yearly or the majority of the time.
Summer Fallow Farmland—land farmed without using irrigation, where land is cultivated in alternate years (usually every other year), allowing moisture to be stored in the un-cropped (fallow) year. Even if grain crops are occasionally sequenced with alfalfa or other nitrogen fixing crops, the land will be classified as fallow if grain is the principle crop. Continuously Cropped Land—lands without irrigation in which crops are grown a majority of the time as part of a normal farming practice. Christmas tree plantation and fruit orchards are classified as continuously cropped farmland.
Description: The map shows areas where soils have been identified as Important Farmland Soils, based on their physical, biological, and chemical characteristics. The land may or may not be used for agricultural purposes; in fact many of the areas with Important Farmland Soils have already been converted into residential and commercial development or other non-agricultural uses. Prime Farmland (& Prime Farmland If Irrigated)—From a national perspective, these lands are of the highest quality and the most suitable for producing food, forage, fiber, and/or oilseed crops. They tend to be level (with slopes of 0-6%), have few rocks, are permeable to air and water, have an adequate growing season, and do not erode easily. Prime farmlands must receive a good supply of moisture, which must generally be provided through irrigation in Missoula County. Farmland of Statewide Importance—State agencies define and identify these soils as being important from a statewide perspective. This designation is similar to Prime Farmlands, but has slightly less stringent criteria. Soils may have higher pH or salt content, more rock fragments, or lower water holding capacity. They may be slightly more erodible, but can be highly productive and produce high crop yields when properly managed. Farmland of Local Importance—At the request of local farmers, the Missoula Conservation District identified important soils from a county-wide perspective. These soils must have at least half of the components used in assessing prime and statewide soils, and meet other minimal requirements for slope (<15%), drainage, and crop production (for spring wheat, hay, and pasture).
Description: This map shows the location of existing or historic irrigation ditches in Missoula County, including those that are maintained by various ditch companies (a collective group of farmers, ranchers, and others who jointly fund and manage the maintenance of the ditch as well as purchase water from it) and ditches maintained by private landowners. Specific Ditch Company Ditches— Information and mapping of the Grass Valley French Ditch, the Frenchtown Irrigation Ditch, and the Big Flat Irrigation Ditch were recently updated by Missoula County Rural Initiatives using historic maps, current aerial photographs, and communication with farmers and ranchers who are members of the ditch company. Maps of the Orchard Homes, Dougherty-Flynn, Hellgate, and Missoula irrigation ditches were developed by Missoula County Office of Planning and Grants using ground-truthed data in the mid-1990’s. Historic Irrigation Ditches—Extensive maps of irrigation ditches were created in an assessment of historical water use by the State Engineers Office in 1960. The maps provide a good general reference to show where irrigation ditches existed historically, and may still exist today. These maps should be used as a companion to Water Resource Survey books available from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s Water Resources Division.
Description: The Department of Revenue Final Land Unit Classification (FLU) is a classification of private agricultural land into one of six uses, fallow, hay, grazing, irrigated, continuosly cropped and forest, with forest additionally classified as commercial or non-commercial and irrigated land classified as being flood, pivot, or sprinkler. The data is used in property valuation for agriculture and forest land on private properties. FLU data may exist in exempt or public land as a result of data conversion processes but no effort has been made to significantly edit, adjust, delete or enhance data to private parcel standards in exempt parcels. Linework was digitized, edited and updated by DOR GIS Technicians. NAIP 2005 imagery was the primary source used to delineate the features. NAIP 2006 where available, NAIP Infrared 2005 imagery, 1999-2003 B&W DOQQ, USGS DRG, and DOR ag information and documentation were used as secondary sources. Using photo interpretation, DOR Technicians attributed each linework polygon based one of the 6 uses mentioned above. During the summer of 2006 and 2007, DOR Agriculture Appraisers field checked much of the linework and classifications. Discrepancies are documented on hardcopy maps used in the field check effort. The data was then updated based on feedback from the field check. In early 2009, all agriculture producers who own private parcels in the state were mailed maps of their parcels ag/forest use with instructions to return maps that were incorrectly classified. DOR GIS Techs updated the database based on the feedback from landowners. The data is maintained continually as use changes are picked up or noticed by DOR county offices offices through new communications with land owners, DOR Appraisers discovering classification changes during field work and/or analysis of new imagery where available.
Description: The map shows public and corporate timber lands in Missoula County that have private grazing leases on them. Indication of lands as grazing leases does not exclude other uses. In fact, many of the grazing leases are on lands primarily managed for timber.
Data on the location of grazing lease or allotment boundaries was obtained from the various federal and state agencies that manage land in Missoula County. Plum Creek Timber Company also leases some of its timber lands for livestock grazing. Grazing leases on former Plum Creek lands that have been purchased by The Nature Conservancy (TNC)/Trust for Public Lands (TPL) via the Montana Legacy Project are also mapped, as TNC/TPL have committed to maintaining those leases while the land is under their ownership. The Bonita-Clinton-Potomac Grazing Association is a conglomeration of multiple ranchers that jointly lease a large area of mixed public and private lands for grazing. The boundaries of this significant lease are also shown.
Note: The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes manage grazing leases on tribal lands within the Flathead Reservation boundary. Data on these leases are not currently available.
Description: The map shows public and corporate timber lands in Missoula County that have private grazing leases on them. Indication of lands as grazing leases does not exclude other uses. In fact, many of the grazing leases are on lands primarily managed for timber.
Data on the location of grazing lease or allotment boundaries was obtained from the various federal and state agencies that manage land in Missoula County. Plum Creek Timber Company also leases some of its timber lands for livestock grazing. Grazing leases on former Plum Creek lands that have been purchased by The Nature Conservancy (TNC)/Trust for Public Lands (TPL) via the Montana Legacy Project are also mapped, as TNC/TPL have committed to maintaining those leases while the land is under their ownership. The Bonita-Clinton-Potomac Grazing Association is a conglomeration of multiple ranchers that jointly lease a large area of mixed public and private lands for grazing. The boundaries of this significant lease are also shown.
Note: The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes manage grazing leases on tribal lands within the Flathead Reservation boundary. Data on these leases are not currently available.
Description: The map shows lands managed for commercial timber by various public land management agencies in Missoula County:
Lolo, Bitterroot, and Flathead National Forests (USFS)—all have Forest Plans that identify the intended management goals for various portions of the forests. The map shows areas of these forests in which commercial timber management is one of the goals. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—manages for commercial timber on the majority of their forested lands in Missoula County. Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC)—manages school trust lands for commercial timber; the majority of DNRC lands in the county are managed for timber, with the exception of a few parcels that are primarily managed for grazing or real estate. Lubrecht Experimental Forest (Lubrecht)—run by the University of Montana for the purposes of research and demonstration of timber management strategies and operations.
Note: The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes manage for commercial timber on many of the tribal lands within the Flathead Reservation boundary. Data on areas in which commercial timber management is allowed on tribal lands are not included on this map.
Description: Plum Creek Timber Company—lands owned by Plum Creek as of 2009, with the exception of those included in the Montana Legacy Project.<br /><br />Montana Legacy Project—lands recently purchased or to be purchased from Plum Creek, that will be conveyed to various state, federal, or private owners over the next several years, in the hopes that commercial timber management will remain a goal.<br /><br />Other private timber lands—derived from Department of Revenue data, these are all private lands that are classified as primarily timber lands for tax purposes.