Introduction
Within the State of Montana, the geography of the state is largely divided between the Rocky Mountains associated with the western third of the state and the Great Plains further east. Although the Great Plains of the State of Montana are largely associated with flat and lightly rolling plains, portions nearer the course of the Missouri River are associated with the Upper Missouri River Breaks (badlands) associated with the state. Apart from badlands, butte formations are also fairly commonplace within the region of the Plains. However, within the Rocky Mountains of the State of Montana, the badlands and buttes representative of the northwestern Great Plains give way to significantly more dramatic topography, including complexity in terms of changes in elevation and even tourist destinations located within the region.
Communities
Native American reservations within the region in the State of Montana may be associated with the Salish community representative of the Rocky Mountains and west into portions of the eastern Cascades as far west as Eastern Washington. Apart from Native American reservations (which also occur throughout significant portions of Great Plains Montana, such as around Fort Peck), the western portion of the State of Montana is also notable for the presence of Glacier National Park as well as the Kootenai, Flathead, Lolo, Helena-Lewis and Clark, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, and Custer-Gallatin National Forests. The general population of Western Montana is associated with Rocky Mountain communities largely associated with the mountains and tourism, most notably Missouri, Kalispell, Deer Lodge, Butte, and Bozeman.
Counties
The national forest units of the State of Montana are associated with the vast majority of the region of the Rocky Mountains in the State of Montana. Such counties include Flathead and Glacier Counties representative of Glacier National Park as well as the counties representative of the National Forest in Montana. In the very northwest of the State of Montana, the Kootenai National Forest is largely associated with Lincoln, Flathead, and Sanders Counties, though the western edge of the forest area also continues into Boundary and Bonner Counties. Further south, the counties associated with the Flathead National Forest include Powell, Missoula, Lake, Lewis and Clark, and Lincoln. The Lolo National Forest nearby is associated with portions of Mineral, Missoula, Sanders, Granite, Powell, Lewis and Clark, Flathead, and Ravalli Counties.
Perhaps the most notable of the national forest units within the State of Montana is the combined area of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, which extends beyond the boundaries of Lewis and Clark County into the Counties of Meagher, Judith Basin, Teton, Cascade, Pondera, Fergus, Wheatland, Chouteau, Glacier, Golden Valley, Sweet Grass, and Park within much of the vicinity, including communities at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains nearest the Great Plains to the east (representative of the combined ranger districts of the Lewis and Clark National Forest). Within the Helena National Forest units generally further southwest are portions of the Counties of Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, Powell, Jefferson, and Meagher. More deeply located within the Rocky Mountains are national forests to the southwest, including the Beaverhead National Forest in Beaverhead, Madison, Deer Lodge, and Silver Bow Counties; as well as the Deerlodge National Forest in Granite, Jefferson, Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, Powell, and Madison Counties. To the southeast along the Bitterroot Mountains and the Continental Divide is the Custer-Gallatin National Forest, just to the north of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks associated with the region extending into the States of Wyoming to the south and Idaho to the southwest. The counties associated with the Custer-Gallatin National Forest are Park, Gallatin, Sweet Grass, Madison, Carbon, and Meagher.
