Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Dispersed Camping Rules

16 days stay limit

Regional Order R1-2025-01 (signed July 17, 2025; effective August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2030) prohibits "camping or otherwise occupying a single site for over 16 consecutive days within a calendar year" and "camping or otherwise occupying any number of sites over 32 cumulative days within a calendar year" on all Montana national forests in the Northern Region, including the Beaverhead-Deerlodge. A "site" is "the campsite or place that is occupied and all NFS lands within 1/2 mile radius." Older forest materials count differently: recreation-site pages say "camping in an area, campsite, or developed campground is limited to 16 accumulated days within any 30-day period," and the forest's 2019 visitor publication says after 16 days outside a campground "you must move your camp at least five miles for the next two weeks" - the 2025 regional order is the operative legal text.

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

"You can camp most anywhere in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, with just a few exceptions. Please be a good neighbor and don't set up your gear at campsites you aren't using." (forest visitor publication R1-10-11). Special rules in the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges in Madison County allow driving off roads at designated spots only, to reach a designated camping spot. source

Keep your distance

300 ft — Stay-close corridor rule for vehicle access: "You may drive up to 300 feet off a road or trail only to reach a temporary camping spot, but otherwise, including for firewood cutting, keep your wheels on the road." All vehicles must stay on existing routes - cross-country driving is prohibited. In the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges (Madison County), off-road driving to camp is allowed at designated spots only. source
Recommended: 200 ft — Stock-specific guidance: "please don't tie up stock within 200 feet of a lakeshore or running water." Worded as a request in the forest's Leave No Trace guidance, not an order; applies to pack and saddle stock, not tents. source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

All vehicles must stay on existing routes and not drive cross-country; you may drive up to 300 feet off a road or trail only to reach a temporary camping spot (forest visitor publication). "The Beaverhead-Deerlodge has free travel management maps, called 'motor vehicle use maps' (MVUMs) covering the Gravelly Mountain Range and Tobacco Root Mountains"; paper copies at ranger district offices. In the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges, off-road access to camping is at designated spots only - ask at the Sheridan or Ennis ranger stations.

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Order R1-2025-01 - Northern Region occupancy and use order (camping stay limits; pallet and target-refuse prohibitions) The stay-limit legal text: 16 consecutive days at a single site and 32 cumulative days per calendar year on Montana forests. Also prohibits possessing pallets or hardware-bearing wood as firewood and shooting at refuse targets. Effective August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2030.
Annual Food Storage Order - Order 02-00-22-02 Mandatory forest-wide food storage from March 1 to December 1: store food and other bear attractants in hard-sided vehicles, bear-resistant containers, or hung 10 feet up and 4 feet out from a tree.
Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Restrictions Standing wilderness orders addressing camping with stock, campfires, group size, and mandatory registration - read before overnight trips into the Anaconda Pintler.
Bobcat Lakes & Sand Creek Area - area/road/trail closure (Order 01020326-04) Area, road and trail closure posted at verification - camping in the closed area is off the table while the order stands; read the order for boundaries and dates.
Delmoe Lake area/road closure (Order 01020426-01) Area and road closure posted at verification - read the order for boundaries and dates before planning to camp near Delmoe Lake.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.