United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Montana Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content




Geographic Area Rate Caps (GARC) Map

For Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Emergency Watershed Protection Program - Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE)

The interim final rules for WRP allow for three different easement valuation methodologies: market analysis/appraisals, geographic area rate caps (GARCs), or landowner offer. Montana NRCS has sought and obtained a market analysis for agricultural lands. The market analysis divided the state into four regions and by the following land use categories where available: irrigated cropland, non-irrigated cropland, and range/pasture. The GARC is a diminutive value of the fair market analysis land value. The diminutive value was determined with input from the Montana State Technical Committee. The four geographic regions for the State of Montana are shown on the following map and listed in the following table. Skip to table.

Map showing counties in each GARC region

map legend

Montana State Geographic Area Rate Cap Regions
Region Counties
East Tool, Liberty, Hill, Blaine, Phillips Valley, Daniels, Sheridan, Roosevelt Chouteau, Judith Basin, Fergus, Petroleum, Garfield, McCone, Dawson, Richland, Wibaux, Wheatland, Musselshell, Golden Valley, Treasure, Rosebud, Big Horn, Prairie, Powder River, Fallon, Custer and Carter.
Intermountain Glacier, Pondera, Teton, Lewis and Clark, Cascade, Meagher, Broadwater, Park, Sweet Grass, Stillwater, Carbon, and Yellowstone.
Southwest Beaverhead, Deer lodge, Silver bow, and Jefferson.
West Lincoln, Flathead, Sanders, Lake, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Ravalli Granite, Madison, and Gallatin.


Montana State Geographic Area Rate Cap Values for Land Uses within Each of the GARCs
Montana GARC Region Irrigated Cropland GARC Non-Irrigated Cropland GARC Pasture/Range GARC
East $2,034 per acre $540 per acre $306 per acre
Intermountain $1,845 per acre $595 per acre $408 per acre
Southwest $1,879 per acre n/a $1,194 per acre
West $2,539 per acre n/a $1,383 per acre

These GARC values will be used to make permanent easement offers for both the WRP and the EWP-FPE for Fiscal Year 2009.

This map is also available in Adobe Reader format.

Geographic Area Rate Caps Map (PDF; 100 KB)

Last Modified: 05/07/2009