This collection is a sub-subgroup (Bureau) of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation records, RS 496. The Forest Management Bureau (formerly the Forestry Division) currently (as of 2024) operates within the Forestry-Trust Lands Division. Please see the primary finding aid for more Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation records.

Records consist primarily of subject files (1940s-1970s) for forestry- and conservation-oriented organizations, state agencies, and federal agencies, and topical subject files. These files include information on the broad range of the Forestry Division's functions including forest fire protection, insect control, timber harvesting, forest research, land use, land exchanges, and a myriad of related topics. In addition there are legal documents including cooperative agreements on forest fire protection, community forestry programs, real estate appraisal, tree planting, and other topics; maps, including land classification, land condition, and land ownership plats; organizational materials, including administrative manuals, organization charts, and work plans; reports, including cooperative forest management reports, forest fire reports, monthly narrative reports, narrative reports of meetings attended, and individual reports on many topics.

Some of the collection's most valuable material is in the miscellany series, including land and timber evaluation sheets for each piece of state forest land, describing in considerable detail the types of plants present, the value of the timber, and the watershed conditions. This series also includes various types of permits issued by the Forestry Division, including Christmas tree permits, special use permits, timber permits, and timber sales.

There are subgroups for the Montana State Board of Forestry, consisting of minutes (1947, 1951, 1955, 1962); for the Civilian Conservation Corps/ Emergency Conservation Work including printed material and subject files on six forest CCC camps in western Montana; the Forest Lands Advisory Commission , consisting of a report (1945) to the governor and materials on which the report was based; and the \b Montana Rural Fire Fighters Service , consisting of correspondence (1944-1947), legal documents (1942-1946), minutes (1942-1945), annual and monthly reports (1944-1960), a subject file on cooperation with the Cooperative Extension Service, and other materials.

Timber Sale and Timber Permit files (found in the Subject Files series) include Brush Disposal Records. However, some Brush Disposal Record cards are stored separately from their T.S. or T.P. files, in box 49.

Earlier material on the management of state forest lands is included in the Board of Land Commissioners Records (Record Series 29).