Natural Resource Information System

Land ownership in Montana Counties

These areas were estimated in February 2011 using data available from the Montana Natural Heritage Program (see http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/nris/stew_owners.html). These data are based on 1:100,000 scale maps, which do not have precise property lines and are not legal records. Although each area is reported to the nearest acre; the actual areas owned might differ from these figures significantly. Each owner's acreage may include highway and railroad right-of-way which cross their land. Public parcels smaller than 40 acres have generally not been mapped and may not appear in this table.

The areas of Tribal land, which includes land owned by the tribes and by the BIA, were estimated using the Montana Cadastral Framework.

Differences between this data and the 2003 data previously published here may be due to errors in the data or different interpretations of the data rather than due to changes in land ownership.

County Name	Percent Federal Land	Percent State Land	Percent Indian Trust and BIA Land	Percent Private Land	Percent Water	U.S. Bureau of Land Manage– ment	U.S. Bureau of Recla– mation	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	National Park Service	U.S. Forest Service	U.S. -- Other Federal Land	Montana State Trust Land	Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks	Montana University system	Montana Dept of Corrections	Montana -- Other State Land	Local Govern– ment	Tribal and BIA Land	Private Land	Private Conservation Land	Water	Total
Montana	29.1	6.0	5.3	58.7	0.8	8,005,646	125,044	923,734	1,188,786	17,048,025	82,075	5,182,439	405,817	35,727	35,426	28,227	23,749	4,997,717	55,015,683	227,154	779,337	94,104,586
Beaverhead	58.9	10.0	0.0	30.6	0.4	666,532	190	43,736	666	1,374,605	15,790	336,435	20,751	0	0	183	0	0	1,088,227	4,265	15,395	3,566,775
Big Horn	0.9	2.0	45.6	51.2	0.3	27,162	120	0	2,653	0	10	60,087	3,715	0	0	127	19	1,464,578	1,643,306	0	8,673	3,210,450
Blaine	16.7	6.8	18.3	58.0	0.1	449,501	81	2,891	200	0	513	184,153	0	0	0	0	287	496,859	1,573,783	782	3,660	2,712,710
Broadwater	32.8	3.1	0.0	60.3	3.8	64,496	8,637	0	0	186,771	0	24,011	202	0	0	275	484	0	477,447	0	30,066	792,389
Carbon	43.5	3.3	0.0	52.9	0.4	219,538	0	277	27,465	326,607	0	40,539	1,534	0	0	902	0	0	697,365	0	4,917	1,319,144
Carter	27.7	6.7	0.0	65.5	0.0	505,119	0	0	0	89,091	0	144,634	0	0	0	0	323	521	1,403,119	0	0	2,142,807
Cascade	12.4	5.2	0.0	81.7	0.7	24,627	1,361	7,148	0	178,412	3,330	77,815	12,189	0	0	352	29	0	1,416,968	375	12,661	1,735,267
Chouteau	6.2	10.4	1.3	81.6	0.5	126,234	119	2,432	0	30,713	8	265,116	344	0	0	0	33	33,544	2,086,107	0	13,246	2,557,896
Custer	16.0	6.6	0.0	77.2	0.2	333,216	0	0	0	0	55,217	156,456	564	0	520	2,313	446	0	1,874,727	0	4,070	2,427,529
Daniels	0.2	24.1	3.8	72.0	0.0	200	0	1,088	0	0	349	219,901	4	0	0	80	0	34,264	657,038	0	0	912,924
Dawson	4.1	6.5	0.0	89.0	0.3	61,639	1,360	0	0	0	0	87,846	11,512	0	0	86	93	0	1,357,682	0	5,194	1,525,412
Deer Lodge	44.9	14.7	0.0	40.0	0.4	5,160	0	0	0	207,878	0	7,158	60,243	0	1,389	807	0	0	189,819	30	1,963	474,447
Fallon	11.2	6.9	0.0	81.8	0.0	116,318	0	0	0	0	0	70,955	359	0	0	0	1,084	0	849,770	0	1	1,038,487
Fergus	17.7	6.0	0.0	76.2	0.1	347,333	0	49,860	0	94,320	28	159,276	6,826	0	0	186	719	0	2,121,514	0	4,099	2,784,161
Flathead	71.7	3.9	0.8	21.4	2.3	0	0	12,456	635,156	1,762,981	0	127,139	3,235	0	0	40	0	28,296	718,429	194	75,910	3,363,836
Gallatin	42.9	3.8	0.0	52.4	0.8	7,043	0	174	64,505	651,406	79	49,912	11,457	2,187	0	309	1,232	0	883,456	81	13,759	1,685,600
Garfield	23.0	5.1	0.0	68.3	3.6	492,363	0	222,488	0	0	0	158,326	0	0	0	0	313	0	2,119,550	0	110,403	3,103,443
Glacier	20.2	0.4	39.1	39.4	0.9	1,061	0	94	362,573	28,832	22	8,300	0	0	0	0	0	759,831	763,972	1,159	17,049	1,942,893
Golden Valley	4.3	6.5	0.0	89.2	0.0	7,838	0	761	0	23,869	0	48,629	0	0	0	323	0	0	670,674	0	175	752,269
Granite	63.2	1.8	0.0	34.7	0.2	37,196	0	0	0	663,800	0	20,450	31	0	0	8	73	0	385,142	5	2,266	1,108,971
Hill	2.2	8.5	4.2	83.9	0.6	14,629	26,430	459	0	0	378	153,378	2,448	0	0	2,377	10,034	77,739	1,566,805	0	11,871	1,866,548
Jefferson	52.2	3.4	0.0	44.3	0.1	92,381	0	1,614	0	460,626	0	31,526	3,155	0	1,042	850	20	0	469,955	50	819	1,062,038
Judith Basin	26.0	9.0	0.0	65.0	0.0	12,013	0	0	0	298,829	2	99,295	8,608	0	0	351	0	0	778,026	0	0	1,197,124
Lake	17.8	6.2	30.4	36.2	9.4	0	0	13,557	0	174,448	0	56,687	9,384	0	0	9	0	321,736	366,802	16,009	99,957	1,058,589
Lewis and Clark	48.0	7.6	0.0	43.5	0.8	73,495	4,122	165	0	994,062	2,543	133,512	35,203	0	0	1,606	1,624	0	969,167	4,268	18,686	2,238,453
Liberty	2.9	9.4	0.0	86.7	1.1	8,078	18,531	0	0	0	114	86,616	0	0	0	160	0	0	802,663	0	9,954	926,116
Lincoln	73.5	3.0	0.0	22.0	1.5	0	0	0	0	1,727,586	1,053	65,814	5,351	0	0	214	0	0	516,904	678	34,330	2,351,930
Madison	46.0	7.1	0.0	46.5	0.3	249,789	0	688	0	810,101	0	133,398	21,468	9,798	0	0	0	0	1,072,820	343	7,797	2,306,202
McCone	14.4	5.5	0.1	78.7	1.3	200,616	0	46,620	0	0	0	93,762	0	0	0	0	0	1,395	1,350,993	0	23,137	1,716,523
Meagher	31.4	6.1	0.0	62.4	0.1	8,103	0	0	0	472,845	0	90,673	3,573	0	0	0	0	0	956,437	0	989	1,532,620
Mineral	82.3	8.1	0.0	9.4	0.2	0	0	0	0	644,797	0	21,610	41,375	0	0	245	0	0	73,157	224	1,595	783,003
Missoula	49.1	9.2	5.5	35.6	0.5	20,652	0	0	0	801,797	0	105,401	28,679	20,303	0	0	2,574	92,224	500,475	95,589	7,835	1,675,529
Musselshell	9.4	6.4	0.0	84.1	0.1	100,941	0	11,674	0	0	0	76,322	0	0	0	23	0	0	1,007,873	0	1,004	1,197,837
Park	52.4	2.2	0.0	45.2	0.2	8,239	0	0	94,229	840,520	1	33,247	5,426	0	0	647	32	0	813,988	0	4,105	1,800,434
Petroleum	36.2	6.0	0.0	56.8	1.0	331,819	0	56,333	0	0	0	63,868	0	0	0	191	0	0	608,648	0	10,840	1,071,699
Phillips	41.1	6.0	3.7	48.0	1.1	1,081,656	29,588	259,593	0	0	358	189,039	1,086	0	0	10,644	65	124,552	1,537,678	63,969	37,279	3,335,507
Pondera	10.4	5.5	10.3	73.2	0.6	1,077	0	640	0	107,404	203	55,954	1,296	0	0	19	0	107,697	769,527	0	6,805	1,050,622
Powder River	28.3	6.8	0.0	65.0	0.0	256,048	0	0	0	340,386	0	143,047	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,371,720	0	30	2,111,231
Powell	50.3	10.1	0.0	39.5	0.1	93,613	0	4,590	1,330	650,964	0	74,152	40,163	3,439	32,475	629	0	0	572,701	16,488	2,113	1,492,657
Prairie	40.1	6.9	0.0	52.7	0.3	447,195	0	0	0	0	0	77,035	8	0	0	0	0	0	587,758	0	3,073	1,115,069
Ravalli	73.5	2.6	0.0	23.9	0.0	0	0	2,868	0	1,125,830	0	29,299	8,964	0	0	988	0	0	367,638	0	654	1,536,241
Richland	3.8	6.2	0.0	89.2	0.7	51,252	0	0	0	0	0	80,919	3,055	0	0	0	161	400	1,201,632	0	9,182	1,346,601
Roosevelt	0.3	1.3	29.4	68.5	0.5	3,924	0	1,247	9	0	0	19,186	67	0	0	0	0	445,459	1,038,608	0	7,216	1,515,716
Rosebud	10.1	5.5	7.5	76.7	0.1	229,943	0	0	0	95,689	0	177,538	24	0	0	118	0	241,297	2,466,847	0	4,766	3,216,222
Sanders	52.2	3.7	16.5	26.6	0.9	0	0	10,113	0	922,235	0	62,827	2,893	0	0	80	0	295,144	475,812	0	16,403	1,785,507
Sheridan	2.9	4.1	3.7	88.1	1.2	295	0	31,017	0	0	244	44,933	310	0	0	0	81	39,918	959,879	1,167	12,826	1,090,670
Silver Bow	51.0	6.2	0.0	42.8	0.0	45,253	0	0	0	189,205	0	12,828	15,857	0	0	0	0	0	196,674	0	69	459,886
Stillwater	17.7	4.2	0.0	77.7	0.5	5,514	0	5,333	0	193,240	0	45,449	2,681	0	0	34	0	0	897,701	0	5,845	1,155,797
Sweet Grass	24.7	4.1	0.0	71.0	0.2	15,549	0	0	0	278,515	0	47,960	510	0	0	47	0	0	846,349	0	2,970	1,191,900
Teton	18.5	8.3	0.0	72.6	0.6	15,824	19,590	1,630	0	234,583	59	103,140	17,629	0	0	1,195	10	0	1,043,639	21,478	8,109	1,466,886
Toole	3.6	8.3	0.0	87.4	0.7	27,350	13,214	4,625	0	0	162	97,043	6,057	0	0	2	0	0	1,087,782	0	8,294	1,244,529
Treasure	0.1	6.1	1.6	91.7	0.4	546	0	70	0	0	0	37,057	1,278	0	0	0	0	10,236	578,013	0	2,831	630,031
Valley	35.3	6.7	9.1	46.2	2.6	1,012,513	1,026	127,008	0	0	1,612	216,043	263	0	0	552	4,013	294,863	1,497,084	0	84,474	3,239,451
Wheatland	7.3	8.1	0.0	84.3	0.3	1,267	0	0	0	65,078	0	71,546	1,621	0	0	1,100	0	0	770,508	0	2,489	913,609
Wibaux	4.8	5.8	0.0	89.4	0.0	27,050	0	0	0	0	0	32,942	0	0	0	0	0	0	508,964	0	171	569,127
Yellowstone	4.6	4.5	7.5	83.0	0.4	76,446	675	485	0	0	0	72,255	4,419	0	0	155	0	127,164	1,406,361	0	7,312	1,695,272