Billings Field Office

The Billings Field Office manages approximately 434,000 acres of public surface lands and 889,479 acres of federal mineral estate in eight counties in southcentral Montana and in Big Horn County, Wyoming. The field office includes Pompeys Pillar, on which Captain William Clark inscribed his signature in 1806. This signature is the only in-place physical evidence of the legendary Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery. Pompeys Pillar is now a national monument.  

The BLM also manages the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. Wild horses from the Pryor Range are popular among wild horse enthusiasts because the horses share many characteristics with Spanish mustangs, which may number among their ancestors.

The field office offers abundant recreation opportunities to the residents of Billings, Montana’s largest city. The office also administers grazing, archeological sites, and wildlife habitat and works to reduce the danger of wildland fire in the wildland-urban interface. 

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

The Billings Field Office public lands are within the ancestral homeland of the following Tribes:

• Arapahoe Assiniboine and Gros Ventre (Fort Belknap)
• Assiniboine and Sioux (Fort Peck)

• Blackfeet

• Chippewa Cree (Rocky Boy)

• Crow

• Lower Brule

• Northern Cheyenne

• Oglala Sioux

• Standing Rock Sioux

• Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations)

• Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa

These Tribes and others have visited, crossed, and inhabited this area for over 11,000 years, to live, hunt, trade, and perform their own unique cultural ceremonies. The BLM is committed to working with Tribes in the management of public lands by incorporating and considering Tribal input, values, and interests in a manner that seeks to protect the treaty, religious, subsistence, and cultural interests of federally recognized Tribes consistent with the BLM’s mission and applicable law.

Cultural History 

• People have inhabited lands now managed by the BLM as long as human memory. As a result, the public lands connect the past and the present through ongoing traditional uses and by holding invaluable evidence of human history. Preservation of these important lands and their resources will ensure current and future generations the ability to connect to their natural and cultural heritage.

• The Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 prohibits the excavation, taking, or destruction of any historic or prehistoric site or any object of antiquity on lands under federal jurisdiction. Vertebrate and other fossils of "recognized scientific interest" also are protected.

• Pompeys Pillar National Monument

• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

• Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail

Camping

• There are no designated long-term camping areas in Montana. The maximum stay for dispersed camping is 16 days. Please limit wood cutting to dead and downed wood. Harvesting more than a small amount for use at a campsite requires a permit. Do not cut down any trees unless posted otherwise. We ask you to follow a policy of "Treading Lightly". By picking up litter, avoiding travel that could damage the land, observing signs and posted areas, leaving all gates as you found them, and asking permission to enter private lands, you will enhance the public's opportunity to enjoy these lands in the future.

• Learn more about camping on BLM land in Montana here.

Hiking, Biking, and Equestrian Areas

• Acton Recreation Area

• Cottonwood Travel Management Area

• Four Dances Natural Area

• Grove Creek Travel Management Area

• Pryor Mountain Travel Management Area

• Shepherd Ah Nei Recreation Area

• Sundance Lodge Recreation Area

• Trails Along Helt Road

Off Highway Vehicles (OHVs)

• Resident and non-resident OHVs must display a valid OHV decal to operate on public and state trust lands in Montana. Learn more and purchase an OHV decal here.

• Cottonwood Travel Management Area

• Grove Creek Travel Management Area

• Horsethief Recreation Area

• Meeteese Spires Recreation Area

• Pryor Mountain Travel Management Area

• Shepherd Ah Nei Recreation Area

Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range (PMWHR)

• The PMWHR is one of only four designated wild horse and burro ranges in the country, which means the area is managed principally, but not exclusively, for wild horses and burros. The PMWHR was created by order of the Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall on September 9, 1968. At the time, the PMWHR encompassed 33,600 acres of BLM and National Park Service-managed lands in Montana. In the years since, additional land was added to the Range, including land across state lines in Wyoming. Today, the PMWHR comprises of more than 38,000 acres.

• Learn more about the PMWHR here.

Other Recreation Area Maps

• Asparagus Point Recreation Area

• Seventeen Mile Recreation Area

• Tin Can Recreation Area

Recreational Shooting, Hunting and Fishing

• Over 99 percent of BLM managed lands are open to hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting opportunities. The BLM provides important access to hunting and fishing opportunities on public lands and waters, working with local communities and our valued partners to actively expand access to these opportunities.

• Using exploding targets, fireworks, tracer ammunition, paper/sky lanterns, and other incendiary devices is prohibited year-round on all BLM managed land in Montana.

• Learn more about recreational shooting, hunting, and fishing here.

Special Recreation Permits (SRPs)

• SRPs are issued to businesses, organizations, and individuals to allow the use of specific public land and related waters for commercial, competitive, and organized group use.

• Learn more about SRPs here.

• Not sure if you need an SRP? Reach out to the Billings Field Office and we will be happy to assist you.

  • [email protected]

  • 406-896-5013

NEPA Register

• The BLM encourages the public to stay involved in the planning process to determine how public lands are managed. Visit the BLM NEPA Register to view past and current projects, and to provide comments on planning and implementation.