The Western Montana Resource Advisory Council (RAC) is an official federal advisory committee that provides advice and recommendations on all aspects of public land management to the Bureau of Land Management's Butte, Missoula and Dillon Field Offices.

The Western Montana RAC operates on the principle of collaborative decision-making and strives for consensus before making official recommendations to BLM. In fact, our motto is "Making Significant Progress Towards Consensus."

The Secretary of the Interior appoints citizens to staggered three-year terms on the Council. A list of potential appointees is generated by an annual public nomination process.

Since the Council was established in 1995, the Western Montana RAC has assisted in developing the Montana BLM's Standards for Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing, and the Whitetail/Pipestone Travel Management Plan. Most recently, Council involvement has focused on development of the Dillon Resource Management Plan the Sustaining Working Landscape Initiative. Membership on the 15-member Western Montana RAC is balanced to achieve representation of the wide variety of public land resources and users.

The Western Montana RAC meets approximately every quarter. Meeting locations alternate between the Butte, Missoula and Dillon Field offices, with the Field Manager at the meeting location serving as the Designated Federal Official (DFO) and host of the meeting.

Periodically, field trips are scheduled to various areas that are pertinent to a specific topic of discussion. All of the RAC meetings are open to the public and opportunities are provided at each meeting for the public to address the Council. Meeting minutes are available after each meeting, and will be posted on this website.