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About the Forest Pest Management Program

The Forest Pest Management Program assists landowners and resource managers in identifying and managing forest insects and diseases on their forested properties. We also work to prevent and control non-native invasive insects and diseases that threaten Montana’s forests. 

What We Do

Consultations

DNRC Service Foresters, located statewide, provide consultations to private forest landowners. They are knowledgeable about forest pests and provide appropriate recommendations on prevention and mitigation practices.

Contact your local service forester

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Education

We provide a variety of trainings, workshops, and public presentations designed to meet the needs of diverse audiences. We also offer free educational resources and publications online.

Contact your local service forester to set up an event

Browse identification and management materials online 

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Friday, March 7, 2025

Ties to the Land: Your Family Forest Heritage, an award winning daylong
workshop about intergenerational transfer of forest, farm or range land is for all who
need that boost to start the all-important family conversations about the future. The
program presents practical tools and interactive exercises to help families learn to face
succession head-on. The curriculum touches on estate planning and legal processes, but
focuses on the conversations that need to take place within a family before the
attorneys and accountants are brought in.

Learn more & sign up

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Forestry Mini-College is a one-day educational workshop held on The University of Montana Campus in Missoula, Montana. Anyone interested in forestry is welcome.

Professionals from a variety of natural resources based agencies and industries as well as researchers from Montana State University and The University of Montana, present a variety of sessions for participants to choose topics of greatest interest. 

Learn more & sign up

Friday, May 16 - Sun, May 18, 2025

The MLA will hold its 49th Annual Membership Meeting May 16 & 17, 2025 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Kalispell MT

Learn more & sign up

Collaboration

The Forest Pest Management Program collaborates with other state and federal agencies to conduct trapping, sampling, site visits, aerial detection, and ground surveys. Findings are summarized in the annual Forest Health Highlights, which inform management practices amongst interagency partners and enables rapid response to outbreaks. We also administer Western Bark Beetle Initiative Grants, which support thinning projects on non-federal public lands in order to promote resiliency to bark beetle outbreaks.

2022 Forest Health Highlights & 2023 Forest Health Highlights

Montana Invasive Species Council

Aerial Detection Survey

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Forest Pest Management Program Highlight 

White Pine Blister Rust Impact Study | Fall 2024

DNRC forest pest specialists are studying the impacts of white pine blister rust on limber pine on the Rocky Mountain Front along with the U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy. In 2024, specialists remeasured plots near Choteau that were installed in 2017 and collected data for an interagency impact study on the disease. The study will help DNRC and its partners determine the status of limber pine and better understand the timeline of decline. 

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Contact the Forest Pest Management Program

The Forest Pest Management Program supports service foresters throughout Montana. Contact your local service forester for questions regarding insects and diseases in your area. 

2705 Spurgin Rd Missoula, MT 59804