Montana · Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Bitter Creek
BLM found a natural system and a scenic value here, and its plan calls for special management. BLM's records place 2 rights of way inside the line today, and nine grazing allotments cover part of it. It covers 60,885 acres and was designated August 8, 2003, in the HiLine RMP (2015). In the plan's name, RMP stands for resource management plan. The plan's name carries a later year than that date: BLM's map gives the date it records for the area, and a plan approved later can carry forward an area designated earlier.
One of the 1,120 places the Bureau of Land Management has designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. This page shows its line, what BLM found there and what sits inside it.
The line
The rights of way
2 rights of way sit inside the line. BLM files 1 under oil & gas facilities and 1 under non-energy facilities.
- NORTHERN BORDER PIPELINE CO1right of way
- MALTA FIELD OFFICE1right of way
Grazing allotments
9 grazing allotments cover part of this line. Their permittees aren't named here yet.
- BUGGY CREEK52,033acres
- CHISHOLM CREEK36,558acres
- UPPER WILLOW CREEK36,251acres
- ANDERSON-OJUEL25,472acres
- EAGLES NEST COULEE21,475acres
- BITTER CREEK19,952acres
- EASTFORK WILLOW CREE19,911acres
- UPPER CANYON CREEK11,608acres
- MT040563,523acres
The nearest areas
- Frenchman BreaksMontana/Dakotas · 42,020 acres · 2 rights of way, 16 grazing allotments covering part of it25miles
- Big Bend of the Milk RiverMontana/Dakotas · 1,992 acres · 1 right of way, 6 grazing allotments covering part of it45miles
- Mountain PloverMontana/Dakotas · 24,793 acres · at least 50 active mining claims, 8 grazing allotments covering part of it45miles
- Malta GeologicMontana/Dakotas · 6,153 acres · 1 right of way, 4 grazing allotments covering part of it52miles
- Sand ArroyoMontana/Dakotas · 12,314 acres · 1 right of way, 9 grazing allotments covering part of it66miles
More from BLM's Montana/Dakotas office
Every area BLM's Montana/Dakotas office holdsThe proposed rule
A proposed rule, RIN 1004-AF53, would change how BLM drafts every land use plan, and how it designates ACECs like Bitter Creek. The comment window hasn't opened: the proposed rule wasn't in the Federal Register at our last check. The Watch sends one email the day it prints.
The rule's abstract
The purpose of this rulemaking is to establish in regulations an updated process for the approval of the development, revision, amendment, and maintenance of land use plans, as provided for by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Additionally, this rulemaking will provide clarification of the process the BLM uses for designating Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.Unified Agenda entry for RIN 1004-AF53, Publication ID 2026, reginfo.gov (OMB OIRA), read Oct 18, 2026