Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest

Contact Information

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Offices

Forest Supervisor: Bill Avey

Helena Supervisor's Office

2880 Skyway Drive
Helena, MT 59602
Phone: (406) 449-5201

Great Falls Supervisor's Office

1220 38th Street North
Great Falls, MT 59405
Phone: (406)-791-7700

District Offices

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

4201 Giant Springs Road
Great Falls, MT 59405
Phone: (406) 727-8733

Please note:

We have created one combined Helena-Lewis and Clark website! The new website URL is www.fs.usda.gov/hlcnf.

If you have bookmarked any of the old Helena or the old Lewis & Clark forest webpages, please UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS now! Bookmarks you have with the old website address may not automatically redirect you to this page – so please update your bookmarks with this new web address! While exploring the forest’s new website, if you encounter any broken links please submit an email through our “Contact Us” page, and we will fix those.

Welcome to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest!

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Projects

Draft Forest Management Plan and Draft EIS Available for Public Review and Comment

We encourage you to review the draft revised land and resource management plan and draft environmental impact statement for the Forest. The drafts reflect years of analyses and extensive public participation, and we want to keep that public involvement going! Review the documents on our Forest Plan Revision webpage and then submit your comments to us within the 90-day comment period. All of the details on how to submit comments are on that webpage. We have hard-copies of these draft documents located at each of our Forest offices, as well.

2018 Morel Mushroom Harvest Information

Morel Mushrooms

We anticipate opportunities for people to harvest morel mushrooms in areas that experienced wildfires last summer on our forest. Mushrooms are considered a "forest product" and requires some kind of permit (free or charge) to harvest. This year, the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest (HLC) will be issuing personal use charge permits from any HLC office. There are two different "uses" for mushroom harvesting: Incidental Use and Personal Use Charge Permit.

Incidental Use allows you to harvest an amount up to 5 gallons and does NOT require any permit. A mushroom harvester is allowed possession of less than one gallon per day with a total of 5 gallons per season.
Personal Use Charge Permit allows you to harvest up to 300 gallons for the season. The cost of the permit is $1 per gallon with a minimum purcase of 20 gallons (and is sold in $5 increments). No more than 5 gallons in possession per day. Personal use charge permits are required for all harvesters over 12 years of age; individuals ages 12-17 must have their permits signed by a legal guardian or adult sponsor and must be accompanied by an adult while harvesting.

Additional mushroom harvesting information can be found in the HLC 2018 Mushroom Guide.

Click here to view the 2018 Mushroom Harvest Map of the areas open to mushroom harvesting across the Northern Region.

Additional regional information can be found on the Northern Region's Post-Fire 2018 Mushroom Harvest webpage.

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Keep Informed

After providing your email address, you can subscribe to the Forest’s project mailing lists and any categories of interest. By selecting a category, the Forest will automatically sign you up for all current AND future project mailing lists that share the same interest.

Features

Be Bear Aware!

Mom and baby bear standing in meadow

The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest is home to both black and grizzly bears, and provides important habitat for bears and other wildlife to use throughout the year. Learning about bears will help you become a more knowledgeable visitor to the forest, and will help keep both you and bears safe while sharing the woods.

Learn how to tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear, bear behaviors and how to stay safe in bear country.

Considering Purchasing an Unpatented Mining Claim??

It is important for any prospective buyer to understand what an unpatented mining claim is, and what the rights of an owner of an unpatented mining claim are.