Montana Rangeland Resources Program

Rangeland provides forage to support Montana’s $1.5 billion livestock industry. Grazing animals on western rangelands makes livestock an important management tool to maintain these landscapes.

Rangelands are a vast, connected habitat for native pollinators and insects. The diversity of wildflowers and flowering shrubs found on rangelands provide valuable pollen and nectar.

Rangelands in Montana provide watershed services worth $14 per acre including water collection, groundwater filtration and aquifer recharge. If Montana is 70% rangeland, about 68 million acres, that represents about $953 million worth of watershed services!

2026 406 Grazing Academy is in the books. Had students from as far as Arkansas. What a great week.

Rangeland are the wide-open spaces not covered by water, trees, crops, cities or pavement. Rangeland or grasslands are meadows and prairies that constitute many of the ecosystem types in Montana.

As Montana’s (and the United States’) largest ecosystem type, rangelands pack a BIG punch in the services they provide not only in MT, but around the nation. Along with scenic beauty, well-managed rangelands provide many benefits, or ecosystem services, like diverse wildlife habitat, improved soil health and water quality, nutrient cycling, and reduced erosion.

Day #3 of the 406 Grazing Academy!

Join us in celebrating Montana Rangeland Appreciation Month (MRAM)!

The 68th Montana Legislature dedicated the month of June to rangelands with the goal of raising public awareness about the importance of rangelands, the ecosystem services they provide, and actions we can all take to preserve and protect these lands that encompass 70% or 68 million acres of Montana! Stay tuned in June to learn how rangelands positively impact water, wildlife, pollinators, livestock, the economy and more!