Initial Publication Date: April 10, 2018

Augusta-Choteau Geographic Setting

Get off the interstate, head down US Highway 287 from Wolf Creek or US Highway 89 from Vaughn/Great Falls, slow down, get out of the car and put boots on the ground, and experience the majesty of the Rocky Mountain Front in northern Montana. The Augusta-Choteau area is the portal to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex that includes the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Great Bear, and Scapegoat Wilderness areas. Experience first hand this remarkable landscape where the Rocky Mountains rise abruptly from the Great Plains. To the east, lies the world famous Egg Mountain paleontologic site. This is also an area of rich cultural heritage, home of the Blackfoot Indian tribe and location of the lyrical writings of Ivan Doig. It is also the site of contemporary issues that include the question of whether oil and gas development should be allowed along the Rocky Mountain Front, should the Badger-Two Medicine Roadless Area (south of Glacier National Park and nestled between the Blackfoot Indian Reservation and the Bob Marshall Wilderness) be preserved as a wilderness area, what are the impacts of climate change on fragile Alpine ecosystems and on water resources needed for agriculture, what is the role of the Endangered Species Act in managing grizzly bear populations as they increasingly migrate from the mountains to the plains?

County Information

Geographic, Socio-Economic Indicators from Headwaters Economics

See the report on Montana's Rock Mountain Front by Chris Mehl (2012), Headwaters Economics, that contains extensive historical, demographic and economic (agricultural, land use, hunting and outdoor recreation, and much more) information about this area.

Headwaters Economics has developed an Economic Profile System that produces "socioeconomic reports of communities, counties, & states, including aggregations and comparisons. The Economic Profile System (EPS) uses federal data sources, including the Bureaus of Economic Analysis, Census, & others." Explore the geographies of the of the Rocky Mountain Front by exploring these topical reports for each county.

Teton County