Research

We are leaders in conservation-based ecological and social research, information technology, and their translation and application to pressing environmental and natural resource problems.

Our faculty and students seek to understand soils, forests, ecosystems, wildlife and the people who interact with them.

The W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation supports a strong foundation for research and serves as the home of the Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station.  The College includes more than 40 tenure-track faculty and 120 graduate students.  The College also operates two extensive research properties: Lubrecht Experimental Forest and Bandy Experimental Ranch.

Will Rice Study image

Study: Camping Reservations: "A wicked problem of equity", finds UM researchers

Will Rice, a researcher in outdoor recreation and wildland management at UM, studies the science and art of camping. He led a recent study that digs deeper into the issue of online camping reservation systems and their impact on the demographics of national park campers. 

virus spillover mice

Study: Montana Mice May Hold the Secret to Virus Spillover.

Researchers in Montana are studying how a type of hantavirus called Sin Nombre spreads through populations of deer mice. Understanding this could help researchers predict where viruses may be likely to spill over from animals to humans.