Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

The Beaverhead portion of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest lies tucked away in a great mountainous bowl in southwestern Montana. The rugged Bitterroot and Centennial Mountain ranges flank the western and southern boundaries, carrying the Continental Divide on their crests. To the east towers the Madison Range. Within the bowl lie broad open valleys bisected by isolated high mountain ranges. Valley bottoms are about 4,500 feet in elevation while many of the peaks exceed 11,000 feet. Cottonwoods and willows grow in the river bottoms, while grasses and sagebrush carpet the foothills. Lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir trees, interspersed with large grassy parks, cover mountain slopes.

The Deerlodge portion straddles the Continental Divide in southwestern Montana. It lies in the heart of richly historic mining country. The many old mines that dot the forest and the ghost town of Elkhorn silently speak of Montana's frontier heritage. The snow capped peaks of the Pintlers exhibit Montana's natural heritage. Grassy slopes with scattered stands of timber provide excellent habitat for elk and an enjoyable environment for hiking and camping. Georgetown Lake offers good fishing, winter or summer. Visitors find both the past and the present on this National Forest.

How To Reach Us

(406) 494-2147

Back to the Northern Region Home Page...

Author: Northern Region Regional Office, USDA Forest Service
Title: Northern Region - Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests
Date: April 1997
Expires: none