Archives and Special Collections holds a significant number of collections from businesses, organizations and individuals documenting land use, environmental policies, and conservation efforts in Montana and the region. Examples of collections documenting land use include the records of the , the , the , and the .
A number of grass-roots environmental and conservation movements and organizations, and their leadership, have western Montana connections and many of their collections are housed here. Collections with particular depth include the papers of and , , and . Archives and Special Collections also houses the organizational records of the .
Homesteading and its impact on the land is well represented in maps, pamphlets and other published materials housed in Archives and Special Collections. Information about additional relevant photograph, manuscript, and oral history collections can be found in this Land Use, Environment and Conservation Collection List and by keyword searching or browsing the database. Several oral history collections cover the changing nature of land use through the years, including the , , and the
Maps, including orthophotoquads, topographics, plats, and forest health protection (pest) maps, are excellent sources of information about land use in Montana over the last 200 years. Our extensive photograph collections, including the photographs of , , and contain thousands of images supporting research into land use and the landscape in Western Montana.