Ecology
After 35 years of having an Ecology Program, state funding eroded to the point that we were no longer able to maintain permanent staff in this program as of 2021. We are currently contracting for the core information products of the Ecology Program as funding is available for a Montana land cover layer that includes mapping of existing natural vegetation communities and mapping of wetland and riparian areas to National Wetland Inventory (NWI) standards using aerial imagery.
The Ecology Program is needed to meet statutory obligations ( MCA-90-15) of tracking the distribution and status of native terrestrial and aquatic biological communities across Montana in a manner compatible with methodologies deployed by NatureServe and the network of natural heritage programs across the United States and Canada.
Recent Highlights
- Worked with contractors to release a new 2025 land use/land cover layer with mapping of National Vegetation Classification (NVC) communities at the Group level and at a 30-meter pixel scale.
- Worked with contractors to release a new Ecological Communities Field Guide containing descriptive accounts for individual NVC habitat types that are mapped in the 2025 Montana land use/land cover layer.
- Contracted for the mapping of wetland and riparian habitats to National Wetland Inventory standards within 13 USGS quadrangles in northeastern Montana in 2025.
