DNRC Service Foresters

The DNRC has 16 Service Foresters located in various offices across Montana; they are available for free one-on-one consultations with private landowners. A Service Forester is often the first contact a private landowner has with the DNRC, and acts as a liaison to individual programs and specialists within the DNRC's Forestry Assistance Bureau.

Service Foresters can provide assistance and expertise on a variety of topics, including:

Compliance with Montana’s forest practice laws and rules:

• Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• Streamside Management Zones (SMZs)
• Slash treatment and fire-hazard reduction
• Hazard Reduction Agreements (HRAs)
• SMZ Alternative Practice Application

Meeting landowners’ objectives:

• Develop forest stewardship or management plans
• Identify appropriate cost-share grants and programs
• Provide recommendations on sources of cost-share assistance
• Identify forest insect and diseases and make management recommendations

Forest harvest and management:

• Timber sales: Planning and carrying through to completion
• Silvicultural systems: Select a system suitable for the site, forest type, and objectives
• Marketing: Identifying markets for timber and non-timber forest products
• Biomass utilization
• Reforestation: Site preparation, choosing appropriate species, ordering seedlings, and proper planting techniques
• Silvicultural treatments: Pruning and thinning (pre-commercial and commercial

Forestry education and outreach:

• Classroom and field presentations to organizations, students, and the general public.
• Information and (or) specialist contacts for resource issues such as invasive weeds, range management, wildlife management, water, soils, etc.

Wildfire:

• Fire prevention and hazard reduction
• Creation of a defensible space around homes and outbuildings

Urban forestry:

• Urban forest assessments
• Education and outreach
• Arbor Day activities
• Program Development

Consulting Foresters

Consulting foresters or mill foresters can be hired to assist landowners with forest management. Your local Service Forester or neighboring landowners may be able to provide recommendations for consulting foresters in your area. The Montana DNRC also maintains a voluntary list of consulting foresters across the state. Inclusion on on this list does not imply endorsement, and landowners are encouraged to check credentials and references.

View the DNRC's Directory of Consulting Foresters