The
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest is the largest of the
National Forests in
Montana,
United States. Covering , the forest is broken into nine separate sections and stretches across eight counties in the southwestern area of the state.
President Theodore Roosevelt named the two forests in 1908 and they were merged in 1996. Forest headquarters are located in
Dillon, Montana. In Roosevelt's original legislation, the Deerlodge National Forest was called the Big Hole Forest Reserve. He created this reserve because the
Anaconda Copper Mining Company, based in
Butte, Montana, had begun to clearcut the upper
Big Hole River watershed. The subsequent erosion, exacerbated by smoke pollution from the Anaconda smelter, was devastating the region. Ranchers and conservationists alike complained to Roosevelt, who made several trips to the area. (Munday 2001)