Blackfoot Forest Protective Association Records, 1921-2001

Prior to 1922, there had been no co-operative effort from timber owners in the Blackfoot drainage area for fire protection of the district’s timberlands. Realizing the cost efficacy of collaborating, timber owners reduced the duplication cost of fire management by creating the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association (BFPA). This organization was obligated to fight forest fires in designated portions of Granite, Lewis and Clark, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Ravalli, and Sanders Counties, but mainly focused on the Big Blackfoot river drainage. The BFPA was the second privately operated forest fire protection association in the country and was organized to provide protection on more than 1,200,000 acres of private and state forestlands.

The Association was a voluntary organization, financed by assessments to members of the Association, with costs prorated according to the acreage owned by each member. The advantages of membership in the BFPA were obvious since when fire occurred on any member’s holdings the cost was withdrawn from the funds of the Association, whereas if the owner of timberland was not a member of the organization the entire cost of fighting any fire would fall directly on him or her. In the 1930s the State of Montana’s fire protection laws were passed requiring owners of private land classified as forestland to join a state recognized forest protection organization or to pay the annual assessment through the tax process. Those paying the assessment voluntarily became voting members of the Association.

On June 9, 1959, the Blackfoot Forest Protection Association was incorporated under the laws of Montana. Under a five-man directorship as provided under the corporate by-laws, with the secretary acting as a full-time fire warden, the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association carried out its fire prevention and control responsibilities in the Big Blackfoot river drainage and elsewhere in Western Montana, protecting about a million acres of forest land. Headquarters of the BFPA were at Milltown, Montana with branches at Drummond, Gold Creek, and Ovando. On July 1, 1971, at the request of the Association, the Montana State Board of Forestry relieved the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association from direct fire protection responsibilities and designated the Office of the State Forester as the fire protection agency for the areas previously protected by the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association. In 1973, the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association donated or sold all its remaining buildings and protection equipment, mainly to the state of Montana. Relieved of direct fire prevention and protection responsibilities, the Blackfoot Forest Protective Association’s principal functions changed to reviewing the State Forester’s fire protection performance, fire prevention and protection education, and the productive stewardship of the Association’s funds.