page_title: Elkhorn Mountains
section_title: The Land
hierarchical_section_title: Elkhorn Mountains / The Land
caption_attribution_description: English: South face of the Elkhorn mountains, as viewed from south of Boulder, MT
context_page_description: The Elkhorn Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Montana, part of the Rocky Mountains and are roughly 300,000 acres in size. It is an inactive volcanic mountain range with the highest point being Crow Peak at 9,414 ft, right next to Elkhorn Peak, 9,381 ft. The range is surrounded by the cities of Helena, Montana City, Townsend, Whitehall, and Boulder and is part of the Helena National Forest in Montana's Jefferson County.
context_section_description: A forest fire in 1988 burned 47,000 acres (190 km²) of the mountain range, leaving carpets of seedlings growing into new lodgepole pine forests.  The land has been used extensively in the past for gold and silver mining, logging, and open range grazing, leaving a noticeable impact; most notably the abandoned mining town of Elkhorn.  Recently with efforts conducted by the BLM, Montana FWP and Helena National Forest, new conservation and wildlife management plans have been put into place including big horn sheep reintroduction and the westslope cutthroat trout  restoration program.  Management of the 2000+ elk herd in the area and the suppression of noxious weeds is also an ongoing task.  
  Despite the impacts of mining, around 100,000 acres of the Elkhorns were still roadless in 1992; this included 85,000 acres of roadless National Forest land as well as adjacent BLM, state and private lands. Congress designated 175,000 acres of the range as the "Elkhorns Wildlife Management Area," and one of Montana's most productive elk herds inhabits the range.  Because the Elkhorns are higher in elevation than the nearby section of the Continental Divide, they catch more moisture than do most other ranges east of the Divide. For this reason, the Elkhorns are especially diverse, with 148 documented vertebrate species.
caption: South face of the Elkhorns as seen from outside Boulder, Montana.
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